Calgary Flames general manager Craig Conroy has moved to clear up the alarm his comments about Jonathan Huberdeau created earlier this week.
Conroy appeared on QR 770 with Jock Wilson on Tuesday night and covered a range of topics tied to the 2026-27 season, including his belief that younger players need to start taking on more leadership. But the conversation that grabbed the most attention was Huberdeau’s health, especially after Conroy said the winger had dealt with “a little bit of a setback, maybe two weeks ago, with his skating.”
By Friday, Conroy was telling Sportsnet’s Eric Francis that he had chosen his words poorly.
“It was a poor choice of words on my part,” Conroy explained.
“It’s not that there was a setback. It was more the hope in me that he was going to be ready for camp.
What I meant was it was a setback that he won’t probably be ready for the first day of camp. That’s where I made my mistake.”
Huberdeau’s 2025-26 season ended early after he opted for hip resurfacing surgery, a procedure that can make the recovery timeline hard to pin down. Conroy said the usual recovery window is about seven to nine months, which is why the Flames can’t offer a firm date for when Huberdeau will be back.
The original hope was that he might be ready for training camp, but that now appears unlikely for the first day. Even so, there is at least some positive news: Huberdeau has been skating regularly, which suggests he is moving in the right direction.
The Flames will be hoping that progress continues once he returns, especially after a rough 2025-26 season in which he finished with 10 goals and 25 points in 50 games.
In Other News...
Flames Prospect Bode Laylin Just Made A Notable Development Choice
For a Flames prospect, the college path can matter almost as much as the junior and development track, and Bode Laylin has now made a meaningful switch before ever stepping on campus. The winger had originally committed to the University of St. Thomas, but his plans changed when he decided to follow a different route for college hockey development, moving his commitment to Minnesota.
Laylins decision adds another wrinkle to a career that Calgary will be watching closely, especially with the Gophers offering a higher-profile stage and a different level of competition. The move is tied to his fathers coaching change as well, a family connection that helps explain why the adjustment made sense, even if it leaves one more season of development questions ahead. [Read more 🡒]
MacKenzie Weegar Just Said What Calgary Fans Have Been Thinking
MacKenzie Weegar touched on a topic that tends to linger around Canadian markets, and it is one Flames fans know well: the way some players talk about playing north of the border. In a recent appearance on OverDrive, the Calgary defenseman said he was disappointed to see players asking out of Canadian teams, a sentiment that fits the frustration many local fans have heard for years whenever trade chatter starts circling.
For Calgary, the remark lands because it speaks to something bigger than one roster rumor or one citys perception. Weegar framed it as a matter of perspective, the idea that suiting up in the NHL should be the honor no matter where the jersey is from, and that leaves the larger conversation about player movement and market preferences hanging in the air. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Fans May Finally Have To Consider The Unthinkable With Huberdeau
Jonathan Huberdeaus time in Calgary has been defined by a decline that few around the Flames could have imagined when he arrived, and it has now pushed the conversation into uncomfortable territory. What once looked like a franchise-altering addition has turned into a long-running debate about fit, value and whether the organization can keep waiting for a rebound that never seems to arrive.
The latest speculative fix is the sort of idea that would have sounded absurd not long ago: a deal with Edmonton built around Calgary eating a big chunk of the contract just to make the math work. It would be a jarring move on several levels, especially with the provincial rivalry attached, and it would also force the Flames to decide whether relief from the cap burden matters more than hanging on to a player whose trajectory has become increasingly hard to defend. [Read more 🡒]