
Calgary Flames star winger Jonathan Huberdeau has played in his final game of the 2025-26 season. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Huberdeau “needs hip surgery,” and will miss the rest of the year as a result.
The development is a difficult one for both the Flames and Huberdeau himself. For Calgary, they obviously lose one of their most talented players for the rest of the season, which is a massive blow in and of itself.
While Huberdeau hasn’t looked quite like his normal self this year (and perhaps now the reason why has become clear), he’s still the Flames’ most accomplished scoring forward.
The fact that his season has now ended has cost him the chance to put together a strong second half and enter the offseason with real momentum.
Instead, Huberdeau will begin his offseason early having scored just 25 points in 50 games for the Flames in 2025-26.
Huberdeau has undoubtedly not been the same caliber of scorer in Calgary as he was as a member of the Florida Panthers. He scored 115 points in his final year in Sunrise, but has a high of 62 points in Alberta.
Huberdeau’s struggles since arriving as part of the Matthew Tkachuk trade have mirrored the wider decline of the Flames’ competitive fortunes. They were a regular playoff team in the years prior to the deal, but have not reached the playoffs since trading Tkachuk.
Although more more extensive detail on the full nature of Huberdeau’s injury has yet to emerge, hip surgery is obviously a serious setback, and one that further threatens Huberdeau’s chances of fully rediscovering his form at some point in the future for the Flames. When Huberdeau returns, he will be 33 years old and entering his fifth season removed from his days as a point-per-game producer with the Panthers.
While Calgary does not appear to be all that close to seriously competing for Stanley Cups, Huberdeau’s presence, when he’s at his best, could have still presented a lot of benefits to the team. Having a high-end scoring winger, one that could even drive production on his own line, could seriously benefit the development of any young Flames forwards who got the chance to play with him.
Because of this significant injury, young scorers like Connor Zary and Matvei Gridin (who lined up next to Huberdeau last night against the Edmonton Oilers) won’t get the benefit of playing on a line with such an experienced playmaker.
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