How many bad players make a career out of broken plays and have over a PPG?
I didn't say he was bad. I said he wasn't that good. "That" good being a 100+ point player.
I think he was obviously a lot better than he is now, but it's pretty clear to me that the system the Panthers played contributed significantly to his production.
Really didn't think that would be a controversial post but here we are.
His GAF meter is at zero. Not because he doesn't care, it's cause he has no confidence in his game.
He loses board battles, he's gets outmatched on 50/50 battles.
And now Sutter is gone and there is no one else to blame.
It's a ####ty situation.
There's a lot of problems with his game (Green Lantern's post is right on) but he doesn't lose that many 50 50 board battles. He's pretty good at winning pucks in the corner. He's actually playing fairly physically since going on the Backlund/Coleman line.
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What if it doesn't work? It is worth a try. Concerning as it seems like maybe Huberdeau doesn't want to be here. On one play last night the Flames were controlling the play in Vegas zone he loses the puck that was passed to him behind the net and it goes straight to the opposition player. Kind of hard for the team to win if one player is losing the battles.
If he doesn't want to be here the Flames should sit down with him and see what we can do about a trade. We might have to eat some salary but if we could get a half decent player back that might be a better way to go. He seems unhappy maybe he doesn't want to be here. Seems like a good guy though we should probably try to do what's best for the organization and for his sake.
Huberdeau took the money. He signed the untradeable contract. Nobody wants any part of it at any price. I’m sure it’s not pleasant for him right now, but do something and the city will love him. They want to love him.
He’s being paid $114M Canadian to fight through situations like this and emerge on the other side a star hockey player.
The Flames can’t write him off having done absolutely nothing as an organization to help him.
Not one player brought in because he may be a good fit with the highest paid player in franchise history.
Literally everybody they acquired up front during the Iggy years was to help #12.
They threw Huberdeau onto the wrong side of a team built around two guys who play nothing like him.
They did nothing to modify their system around what he does well. It’s not clear they even bothered to find out what he does well.
Someone on the staff needs to go back and watch every shift Huberdeau ever took as a Panther and figure out what ingredients he needs to cook.
They bought a Lamborghini, and have subsequently put no effort into learning how it works or how to drive it.
Can’t turn around and blame the car for being unreliable.
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The revisionist history in this thread about Huberdeau not being dynamic or a top winger in league while he was with Florida is ridiculous. Every single person in this forum was excited to hear that Huberdeau would be joining the Flames.
To jog y'all's memories:
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same results. Unless Huska changes up the system and/or Conroy proactively finds/trades for players that could jive with Huberdeau, he will continue to flounder and be an awful contract.
Whenever I watch this video a couple things always stand out.
1) Most of his 5v5 points come off the rush, or opportunities where they created a turnover in the neutral zone. Very little points come off the cycle or possession in the offensive zone. This Flames team / system generates absolutely nothing off the rush, I think there was a stat the last two seasons that showed the Flames rank dead last in rush chances. That's part of the problem I think. Florida played a very aggressive neutral zone system under Coach Q and it created space and rush opportunities for Huberdeau.
2) He seemed to have a lot more confidence in his shot. Especially noticeable on the points on the PP. He would either use his shot with traffic to score, or would use the threat of his shot to freeze the dman and open a passing lane. That has not happened at all with the Flames PP. Feels like teams are not biting on his shot, and also don't seem too afraid of the threat of any of the other Flames shooters, so the are willing to overcommit on Huberdeau instead of playing him passively.
3) The Panthers drove the middle of the ice. This one frustrates me...very rarely do you see the Flames with an aggressive center drive up the middle of the ice. Think they are afraid to get caught going back the other way but we play very passive and safe in the offensive zone, especially off the rush. Sometimes I think the reason the guys like Zary and Pospisil look good is because they confidently attack the middle of the ice, something I think the rest of this roster maybe was told not to take the risk to do in the past.
Overall I do just think Huberdeau was very much a guy that relied on the rush, and cheating to get those rush opportunities to generate offense at 5v5. And he hasn't done that as a Flame at all. You rarely see great chances from him off the cycle or prolonged neutral zone possession.
Which aligns with how his advanced stats showed his as a player. He wasn't a play driver that drove huge possession stats. He was a guy that created high quality and had high conversion rates (Gaudreau and Kane were similar for the most part).
Think he worked well with Duclair and Bennett because they would attack quickly off the rush, and were good at generating neutral zone turnovers. It's why I think Zary, and Sharangovich could work. They tend to attack quicker off the rush and are good at creating neutral zone turnovers.
Last edited by SuperMatt18; 12-13-2023 at 11:58 AM.
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Huberdeau took the money. He signed the untradeable contract. Nobody wants any part of it at any price. I’m sure it’s not pleasant for him right now, but do something and the city will love him. They want to love him.
He’s being paid $114M Canadian to fight through situations like this and emerge on the other side a star hockey player.
The Flames can’t write him off having done absolutely nothing as an organization to help him.
Not one player brought in because he may be a good fit with the highest paid player in franchise history.
Literally everybody they acquired up front during the Iggy years was to help #12.
They threw Huberdeau onto the wrong side of a team built around two guys who play nothing like him.
They did nothing to modify their system around what he does well. It’s not clear they even bothered to find out what he does well.
Someone on the staff needs to go back and watch every shift Huberdeau ever took as a Panther and figure out what ingredients he needs to cook.
They bought a Lamborghini, and have subsequently put no effort into learning how it works or how to drive it.
Can’t turn around and blame the car for being unreliable.
The Flames brought in a centre for Iggy, firstly Conroy, secondly that guy from Finland who's name I want to forget. Neither was a first line centre, but Iggy produced anyway.
Tkachuk played in both systems and thrived.
Query why the Huberdeau Syndrome doesn't happen to anyone else?
Not done anything? They had him initially playing with Lindholm, then Kadri, two pretty skilled centreman.
They thought they were buying a Lamborghini, but got saddled with a lemon, and I believe the warranty just expired.
Whenever I watch this video a couple things always stand out.
1) Most of his 5v5 points come off the rush, or opportunities where they created a turnover in the neutral zone. Very little points come off the cycle or possession in the offensive zone. This Flames team / system generates absolutely nothing off the rush, I think there was a stat the last two seasons that showed the Flames rank dead last in rush chances. That's part of the problem I think. Florida played a very aggressive neutral zone system under Coach Q and it created space and rush opportunities for Huberdeau.
2) He seemed to have a lot more confidence in his shot. Especially noticeable on the points on the PP. He would either use his shot with traffic to score, or would use the threat of his shot to freeze the dman and open a passing lane. That has not happened at all with the Flames PP. Feels like teams are not biting on his shot, and also don't seem too afraid of the threat of any of the other Flames shooters.
3) The Panthers drove the middle of the ice. This one frustrates me...very rarely do you see the Flames with an aggressive center drive up the middle of the ice. Think they are afraid to get caught going back the other way but we play very passive and safe in the offensive zone, especially off the rush. Sometimes I think the reason the guys like Zary and Pospisil look good is because they confidently attack the middle of the ice, something I think the rest of this roster maybe was told not to take the risk to do in the past.
Overall I do just think Huberdeau was very much a guy that relied on the rush, and cheating to get those rush opportunities to generate offense at 5v5. And he hasn't done that as a Flame at all. You rarely see great chances from him off the cycle or prolonged neutral zone possession.
Which aligns with how his advanced stats showed his as a player. He wasn't a play driver that drove huge possession stats. He was a guy that created high quality and had high conversion rates (Gaudreau and Kane were similar for the most part).
Think he worked well with Duclair and Bennett because they would attack quickly off the rush, and were good at generating neutral zone turnovers. It's why I think Zary, and Sharangovich could work. They tend to attack quicker off the rush and are good at creating neutral zone turnovers.
Neither play C, at least not regularly, do they? And it's so difficult to break up those other lines right now. Especially Zary's.
The Flames brought in a centre for Iggy, firstly Conroy, secondly that guy from Finland who's name I want to forget. Neither was a first line centre, but Iggy produced anyway.
Tkachuk played in both systems and thrived.
Query why the Huberdeau Syndrome doesn't happen to anyone else?
Not done anything? They had him initially playing with Lindholm, then Kadri, two pretty skilled centreman.
They thought they were buying a Lamborghini, but got saddled with a lemon, and I believe the warranty just expired.
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Neither play C, at least not regularly, do they? And it's so difficult to break up those other lines right now. Especially Zary's.
Shragovich was playing C earlier this year when he was on the 4th line...I'd like to see him centering Huberdeau once Lindholm is moved. Zary was drafted as a center but think he's been developed mostly as a winger to this point, played a bit of C in the AHL at times but think he was on the wing a lot.
Last edited by SuperMatt18; 12-13-2023 at 12:12 PM.
The revisionist history in this thread about Huberdeau not being dynamic or a top winger in league while he was with Florida is ridiculous. Every single person in this forum was excited to hear that Huberdeau would be joining the Flames.
To jog y'all's memories:
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the different results. Unless Huska changes up the system and/or Conroy proactively finds/trades for players that could jive with Huberdeau, he will continue to flounder and be an awful contract.
If the options are to have an untradable player with an albatross of a contract or try to setup a former top3 winger in the league up for success by making changes that accommodate his style...the course of action seems to be as a clear as day.
But if first I don't succeed, shouldn't I try, try again? What stupid internet meme should I live my life by?
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You remember how everyone thought "Oh the Flames can't rebuild, not with these players - not with these contracts"... Well, the current state of the team is perfect. Huberdeau is committed here. It's not working out right now, but look at the team around him - they're no good either.
We don't need to do anything with Huberdeau right now. I think we should collectively be just fine with what he's currently doing. Him fitting in with the rest of the mediocre/poor roster is helping this team build a new foundation. It's literally the best case scenario for the team right now. In the future, who knows what happens. Maybe the Flames draft Cayden Lindstrom and he clicks with Huberdeau - that could be a hell of a thing. I think we can safely say Huberdeau is not a play diriving top line player, and that mistake was made by our pro scouts and ex-GM over a year ago, we just need to accept it for what it is right now.
If Huberdeau was playing at a PPG pace right now, so what? That'd be bad for the Flames. That'd probably be an extra handful of points in the standings and they'd be plunking along as a wild card team just waiting to get destroyed in round 1, all while probably holding onto our UFAs as "internal rentals", yuck.
What's happening right now is the medicine this team needs. It's not a problem.
Last edited by ComixZone; 12-13-2023 at 12:24 PM.
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We don't need to do anything with Huberdeau right now. I think we should collectively be just fine with what he's currently doing. Him fitting in with the rest of the mediocre/poor roster is helping this team build a new foundation. It's literally the best case scenario for the team right now.
If Huberdeau was playing at a PPG pace right now, so what?
What's happening right now is the medicine this team needs. It's not a problem.
