Calgary will have to open the 2026-27 season without Jonathan Huberdeau.
Flames general manager Craig Conroy told Pat Steinberg of Flames Now 770 that Huberdeau is still recovering from hip resurfacing surgery he had in the spring, and the winger will not be ready when camp gets going. He’ll start training camp on his own before being worked back into full team skates later.
The surgery brought Huberdeau’s 2025-26 season to an early close before the Olympic break, and Calgary’s summer has carried the same uneasy question ever since. Conroy had already said Huberdeau dealt with a setback over the summer, and this latest update confirms the concern.
In 50 games last season, Huberdeau finished with 10 goals and 25 points. That was a drop from the 28 goals and 62 points he posted in 81 games in 2024-25. He still has not come close to matching the 115-point explosion he put up with the Florida Panthers in 2021-22, but in Calgary he has remained among the team’s most productive scorers each year.
With Huberdeau out, rookie Matvei Gridin got the chance to move up the lineup and make an impression. Around his 20th birthday, he took on a bigger role and delivered 14 points in 24 games after the Olympic break. Over an 82-game pace, that would work out to 48 points, a strong number for a first-year winger who started the season in the AHL.
Gridin should be the clearest beneficiary of Huberdeau’s absence, but Calgary could also spread more ice time to Joel Farabee and Yegor Sharangovich.
The opening also gives a path for a group of Flames prospects to push for NHL jobs. Rory Kerins looks the most ready after strong AHL play over the past few seasons, while William Stromgren, Aydar Suniev, and Andrew Basha are also in the mix. They’ll get their shot to make a case in preseason as Calgary waits for a firmer timeline on Huberdeau’s return.
In Other News...
Flames Trade Flexibility Comes With A Few Costly Limits
The Flames have worked hard to keep their options open, but roster flexibility in the NHL always comes with strings attached, and Calgary has plenty of them. The clubs veteran core and some of its newer additions all bring their own layers of trade protection, from full no-trade and no-movement language to more limited lists that still narrow the field if general manager Craig Conroy ever needs to make a move.
Jonathan Huberdeau sits at the center of that reality with a full no-movement clause for the life of his deal, while Mikael Backlunds protection eventually shifts into a modified no-trade arrangement in 2028. Elsewhere on the roster, Jacob Middleton and Yegor Sharangovich have their own trade lists, and Morgan Frost is set to enter the 2026-27 season with an eight-team no-trade list as a pending unrestricted free agent. Added to the future protections already set to kick in for Kevin Bahl, Dustin Wolf and Simon Nemec, it is a reminder that the Flames path to reshaping the roster may be narrower than it looks on paper. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Trigger Fan Backlash With One Move Calgary Fans Will Notice
The Oilers latest roster move has landed far beyond the ice, and it is the kind of decision that naturally registers in Calgary, too, because anything that stirs up Edmonton also ripples across the Battle of Alberta. The club signed former Ottawa Senators forward Alex Formenton, and the reaction has been immediate, with some fans saying the move crossed a line and left them deeply disappointed.
Among the most vocal responses has come from prominent supporter Mary Loewen, while community leaders have also expressed their frustration with the signing. Oilers executive Tim Shipton has acknowledged the backlash and defended how the organization reached its decision, but the conversation has clearly moved well past a simple hockey transaction and into something the team will have to keep answering for. [Read more 🡒]
Jonathan Huberdeaus Absence Still Hangs Over Calgarys Season Start
Jonathan Huberdeaus next step with the Flames remains tied to patience, not urgency, as Calgary heads into a rebuilding phase that has already reshaped the conversation around its veteran winger. General manager Craig Conroy has made clear the organization is putting Huberdeaus health first after hip resurfacing surgery, a decision that fits the broader picture in Calgary as the team looks beyond immediate results and toward a longer reset.
Huberdeau was shut down before the Olympics because of a lingering hip issue, and his recovery is being handled carefully rather than rushed back into action. The start of the 2026-27 regular season will come before he is ready to return, which leaves Calgary to sort through its early-season plans without one of its most recognizable players while the bigger question of when he can get back on the ice still lingers. [Read more 🡒]