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Originally Posted by Royle9
FWIW I haven't heard anything on either of these. With that said its been very quiet. I will ask specifically about Pageau, but I don't see a fit personally.
Huberdeau isn't going anywhere, at least not until some sort of resurgence and an 80+ point season at the very least. What is clear is both the player and the team are not happy with the production. I know he was getting blasted for his comments about the system etc, but he wasn't wrong.
He came from Florida who played as the most offensively aggressive team in the NHL. They played a very heavy east/west system where creativity and passing was key, which go figure fits very well into Jonathan's strengths. Just go back and watch his 110+ point season highlights, almost 90% of the offensive generation was east/west passing.
He came into Calgary and was forced into a more defensively focused system, focusing strictly on north/south aggression which removes the creativity and replaces it with high shot generation and hopefully rebounds while maintaining a strict focus on reduced chances.
Simply put, his game doesn't translate into that kind of system which is very evident. Unfortunately if the Flames continue to go down this road of north/south dump and chase then I don't see him getting back to his old ways, he needs to be allowed to generate those cross ice east/west puck movement and play way more open and aggressive offensively.
He didn't forget how to play hockey, I know we all like to dump on him because he's sucked here and there's no sugar coating it. But he's also not playing the type of hockey he's played his whole career. You have to let your offensive threats play to their strengths, which is why we saw the Jonny-Lindholm-Tkachuk line thrive the final year under Darryl because he let them play east /west and use the creativity.
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Thanks Royle!
Regarding Huberdeau, I agree on the E-W game and creativity. Certainly seemed like a lot of his offense was generated on the rush too in the highlights from what I remember. Biggest surprise for me was that he doesn't seem to 'run' the PP. I was expecting more on the PP at least.
One thing I noticed from his last 2 seasons in Florida (or maybe just last) was that he was used on the PK and was quite effective (had a handful of SHPs). I believe in an interview during his last season in FLA he mentioned that it helped the defensive side of his game and engagement during 5v5. I'm surprised we haven't put him on the PK to try to get him going more (although he has been greatly improved since the start of 2024).
Regarding Pageau, I thought the fit made sense if we could somehow pry a 1st out of Lou even if it means throwing in a prospect that has a lower ceiling. He's a C and seems to play an engaged game with some physicality. Probably someone we can flip at next year's deadline for an asset as teams are always looking for his type for C depth as a rental. He's shown previous playoff clutchness too.