Ryan Huska didn’t exactly volunteer to open the door for the Flames’ young players, but injuries and flat performances have pushed him there anyway. And for Calgary, that might be the only path forward.
The clearest example came in the closing minutes against the Carolina Hurricanes, when the Flames were dealing with the absences of left winger Samuel Honzek, who was injured on Oct. 8, and captain Mikael Backlund, who went down on Oct. 18.
With a critical defensive-zone faceoff looming, Huska put rookie Jonathan Castagna, in only the fifth game of his career, on the ice for the biggest draw of the night while more established names sat on the bench. It was the right call.
The question now is whether he keeps making that kind of choice once the roster is healthy again.
For much of the early season, Huska’s lineup choices have left Calgary’s younger players stuck in awkward spots. Zayne Parekh was kept with Jake Middleton, but the pairing has struggled.
Parekh has had his own growing pains, and Middleton’s slow start hasn’t made life any easier for him. The result has been pressure on a young defender already trying to find his footing.
The same issue showed up in the forward group. After Castagna and Aydar Suniev were called up, they skated with the imposing Adam Klapka against the Avalanche.
Castagna picked up his first NHL point by assisting on Klapka’s first-period goal, and both players looked comfortable in their first period of NHL hockey this season. Even so, the line saw limited ice in the later periods, despite what looked like a strong offensive showing.
Calgary still lost 7-3.
Huska has also kept Maxim Tsyplakov in the mix even though the offence hasn’t followed and the fit with his linemates hasn’t looked clean. That changed against the Hurricanes, when Brennan Othmann slid in instead and made a strong impression in his second game of the season.
After the game on Oct. 20, Huska pointed to the effort.
“He was a lot different than his first game that he played in Vancouver. He was the guy that we saw during the exhibition season; I thought he was the same player vs.
Carolina.”
That matters because the contrast is hard to ignore. Tsyplakov is 28 and set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, while Othmann is 23 and appears ready to handle whatever role the team asks of him. If Calgary is serious about using its young talent, Othmann needs to be part of the nightly lineup instead of being squeezed out by a player who arrived as a salary cap dump.
Suniev’s situation offers a cleaner example of what can happen when Huska leans in. After a hot start, he was moved up to skate with Morgan Frost and Matthew Coronato, and the results have been the best stretch of his season so far. His aggressive, offence-first style has lifted that line as a whole.
The Hurricanes game also brought another adjustment on the blue line. Huska split Middleton and Parekh, and both players looked better right away.
Middleton teamed with Zach Whitecloud, a pairing Huska said he can see continuing because of the defensive workload they can handle. Parekh was placed next to Yan Kuznetzov and then delivered a strong highlight, setting up Frost’s goal that put the Flames ahead 1-0 with a beautiful assist.
More changes are coming whether Huska wants them or not. With Backlund out, Calgary has also called up Ben Jones from the Calgary Wranglers. Jones has started the AHL season on a tear, scoring seven goals in seven games, and he now looks positioned to fill in on Backlund’s line.
The Flames don’t need their young players to be perfect. They need them to keep playing. Huska’s job now is to keep adjusting in a way that helps them grow, not shove them back down the lineup or into the press box where their confidence can take the hit.
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Jones arrives with prior NHL experience and a track record of helping the Wranglers establish themselves quickly as a competitive team. With the Flames needing bodies and some fresh energy in the lineup, his call-up gives him a chance to prove he can again translate that minor-league momentum into a role in Calgary, even if the timing comes with a bit of uncertainty around how long the opportunity will last. [Read more 🡒]