Ryan Huska Hurting Flames’ Rebuild with Bad Personnel Decisions

Othmann will never be a major point producer at the NHL level, but brings a feistiness to the lineup that helps make him valuable. He also does have some underrated skill, which led to him being selected 16th overall in the 2021 draft by the New York Rangers. This is the exact type of player who should be getting minutes to determine if he can indeed be a part of the long-term plans.

Rather than play Othmann, Huska elected to dress Maxim Tsyplakov, who was a throw-in in the Simon Nemec trade in the offseason. The 28-year-old had just two goals and four points across 49 regular season games last season. He’s also on an expiring contract and is not a part of the long-term solution here in Calgary.

Though he didn’t play many minutes, Tsyplakov completely underwhelmed in the Flames’ season opener, finishing with zero hits despite playing on the fourth line. One would have thought that performance would have made it easy to sit him on Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks, but Huska once again went in a different direction.

Rather than scratching Tysplakov, Huska instead sat Connor Zary. The 25-year-old Zary hasn’t had a ton of success under Huska, and looks like he may be playing his way out of Calgary’s future plans. That said, there is still some untapped potential in his game. The Flames would be better off continuing to give him opportunities to see if he can become more impactful for them. That can’t happen when he’s watching games from the press box.

It isn’t just lineup decisions that have been questionable, either. In the Flames’ season opener, all three of Matt Coronato, Matvei Gridin, and Morgan Frost logged less than 14 minutes of ice time. In fact, Gridin and Frost didn’t even hit the 13-minute mark.

Huska made it clear following that outing that he had players who weren’t deserving of bigger minutes. That was undoubtedly a shot at his top line of the trio mentioned above, but also clearly included Zary given that he sat the following game.

In different circumstances, this type of approach would work for Huska. After all, he’s doing what he believes gives his team the best chance to win on a nightly basis. The issue with that approach is that the Flames aren’t playing for wins this season. The young talent will struggle at times, but it’s important to continue giving them opportunities to try and give them the confidence they need to succeed. Limiting their minutes or sticking them in the press box does the exact opposite.

Flames Can’t Afford to Stunt Their Young Players’ Growth

Ultimately, the Flames are in a rebuilding phase, and player development should be one of the organization’s biggest priorities this season. While Huska is trying to put the best possible lineup on the ice, continuing to favour veterans over younger players could do more harm than good. Calgary is going to lose plenty of games regardless, so giving its young talent the opportunity to learn through their mistakes should be far more important than chasing short-term results.