Ryan Huska knew what his Calgary Flames were facing. The head coach warned his team before their game about the Montreal Canadiens' aggressive style and their ability to establish a forecheck that creates problems for opponents.
In October and early November, things didn’t look all that promising for the Calgary Flames. In fact, they looked downright dismal. They opened the season with a 2-9-2 slump, powered primarily by an eight game winless skid where they could not find a way to avoid game-defining miscues.
Normally, when a team ranks 32nd in the league and is heading for its worst season ever, management fires the coach. Although when it comes to the Calgary Flames, there isn’t a world where, in the near future, we will see Ryan Huska get the boot.
It’s been tough sledding so far for the Calgary Flames, who sit 5-12-2 and dead last in the National Hockey League through 19 games in 2025-26. But they were able to secure a rare victory on Thursday night, shutting out the San Jose Sharks at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
There's more to hockey than scoring goals and stopping pucks. For some players, putting up points came second to their main task: angering their opponents.
In my 20 years of following the Calgary Flames, I have never seen them in such disarray to start a season. Everything that could go wrong is going wrong through the first 14 games of the season.
Maybe the best word to describe the Calgary Flames’ recent head-coaching history is “turbulent.” The highs and lows of Bob Hartley, the rather forgettable Glen Gulutzan era, the tumultuous reign of Bill Peters, the Geoff Ward debacle, and the anticlimactic return of Darryl Sutter are what preceded current bench boss Ryan Huska.
It’s already become very expected to see a loss when looking up a box score from a Calgary Flames game on any given night. They have been struggling right from the get go to begin the 2025-26 season, and things didn’t get any better for them on Thursday night versus the Ottawa Senators.
The 2025-26 season is only nine games old, and yet it already feels like an eternity. The Flames have been the worst team in the NHL this season, in large part because they can’t score.
The Calgary Flames decided before the season began to extend their Head Coach, Ryan Huska, to a two-year contract extension with a year remaining on his current contract.
Following a summer of coaching changes across the league, the Calgary Flames are sticking by Ryan Huska, announcing today they have signed him to a two-year extension that will see him stay in Calgary through the 2027-28 season.
Calgary Flames head coach Ryan Huska signed a two-year contract extension on Thursday. Financial terms were not disclosed by the Flames on Huska, who was entering the final year of his current deal.
The Calgary Flames will be entering the 2025-26 season with some expiring contracts, but their head coach won’t be one of them. On Thursday morning, the club announced that they’ve signed head coach Ryan Huska to a two year contract extension.
In a league where coaching jobs often bounce between the same familiar faces, every so often, someone breaks through on their terms. Ryan Huska didn’t arrive behind an NHL bench riding the coattails of a Hall of Fame playing career.
The Calgary Flames‘ decision to hire Ryan Huska as their head coach ahead of the 2023-24 season was one that caught many off guard. The 49-year-old had served as an assistant coach for the organization for several years, but didn’t have any NHL head-coaching experience.
As of March 27, the Calgary Flames are coming off their fourth loss in a row. The latest came against the Chicago Blackhawks – a team with only 21 wins in 72 games.