Jonathan Huberdeau is one of the biggest wild cards hanging over the Calgary Flames’ 2026-27 season, and it all starts with his recovery.
The 33-year-old forward was shut down in early February so he could have hip resurfacing surgery, a procedure GM Craig Conroy described as “major” this spring. By the end of June, there was at least some encouraging news on the rehab front.
“I actually talked to Jonathan three or four days ago and now he’s back skating,” Conroy explained. “He said it feels great in the gym, great doing everything else. Skating is a work in progress, but he’s got a couple months still, so he thinks he’ll be 100% ready to go (for training camp).”
That’s the key question now: what does Huberdeau look like when he gets back? The hip problem was clearly limiting him, both in pain and in mobility, so there’s reason to believe the surgery could help rather than hinder him. Nobody is expecting him to suddenly turn back into a 100-point scorer, but his physical condition last season makes his numbers easier to understand.
And those numbers were rough. Huberdeau finished 2025-26 with 10 goals and 15 assists, and it’s fair to say that if he had played a full 82 games, he still might have posted the worst totals of his four seasons in Calgary. He has struggled to find consistent offense since arriving in the trade that sent Matthew Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers, but last season was clearly affected by more than just production woes.
There’s a natural comparison here to Patrick Kane, who had hip resurfacing surgery in 2023 and has produced solid numbers in each of the three seasons since. There just aren’t many other examples to point to, which leaves Huberdeau in a pretty small and closely watched group.
The optimism around him is real, though. If he’s healthy enough to be in the lineup for Game 1, the next question becomes role. At US$10.5-million per year for the next five seasons, he’ll be paid like a major offensive piece, but does anyone really see him as the Flames’ main driver at this point?
Late in 2025-26, Calgary found a line that clicked with Matvei Gridin, Matt Coronato and Morgan Frost together, and that trio looks poised to open the season as the club’s top line. That leaves Huberdeau’s place in the lineup as one of the more interesting storylines heading into 2026-27.
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