[tvp2003]

Nice little article on Huby: when he found out about the trade, why he signed in Calgary, and why he picked #10:

Huberdeau knows little about Calgary as a city aside from brief impressions from road trips and the positive feedback he’s heard from other Flames. Yet he was willing to commit to the franchise after that dinner with Treliving, signing a max-term extension at eight years and a $10.5 million AAV. It kicks in starting in 2023-24 and will pay him through his 38th birthday. How does a player go all-in on a market for that long without knowing what it’ll actually be like to live there? Isn’t that a little risky?

Huberdeau doesn’t see it that way.

“I was like, ‘You know what?’ I didn’t want to go to Calgary and be like, ‘Am I gonna stay there?’ ” he said. “At the end of the day, anywhere I would’ve went, it would’ve been different than in Florida, so I’d rather just go to Calgary and know I’m going to be there for a lot of years and know that’s going to be the next spot for the rest of my career. So that was my mindset. I was excited we got the deal done.”

He’ll rent a house there for now and will do more research before deciding on a neigborhood to buy in. So the Flames have their new franchise player in Huberdeau, the NHL’s fourth-leading scorer over the past four seasons combined, who turned 29 in June and should remain one of most impactful offensive players in the game. But he’ll have some adjustments to make, no doubt, ranging from superficial to significant. For the first time in his pro career, he won’t wear No. 11. That belongs to center Mikael Backlund in Calgary. Instead, Huberdeau will wear No. 10. He chose those digits to pay tribute to one of his heroes, the late legend Guy Lafleur.

https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/i-dont-...anging-summer/