What to do with Huberdeau?

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Goriders

Would you be a pariah in a city for 8 years? The guy isn’t going to be able to leave his house.

There’s no way this situation will last 8 years unless he starts scoring again. For multiple reasons on both sides.

LOL. The average person even in Calgary wouldn’t know Huberdeau from the next guy in line at the grocery store. And for those that do, most wouldn’t care.

Plus, you are talking about 7 years of a guy’s life. For $73 million. no one is giving that up for a sour look once in a while.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Goriders

I’ve said before he does work hard. He’s good at retrieving pucks. He’s obviously a good passer. He does not shoot the puck enough. He’s horrible at carrying the puck and at times can be a turnover machine.

Renegotiate his contract to $5 million and the discussion can stop. Keep it at $10.5 million and it will never end until he leaves.

Are we ignoring the fact that you aren’t allowed to renegotiate deals?

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Are we ignoring the fact that you aren’t allowed to renegotiate deals?

A lot of facts are being ignored.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Goriders

Would you be a pariah in a city for 8 years? The guy isn’t going to be able to leave his house.

There’s no way this situation will last 8 years unless he starts scoring again. For multiple reasons on both sides.

I think you vastly overstate how much people in this city care about this hockey team if you think Jonathan Huberdeau is going to be a “pariah” because he signed a contract everyone who lives here would have signed.

People have real problems and some dude with a $114M guaranteed contract having some struggles at his job is not a real problem for anyone except Jonathan Huberdeau.

[DazzlinDino]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Enough with the fantasy scenarios. No one is renegotiating a contract because people whine on line. No one is terminating his contract because of allergies. He’s not retiring because people are unhappy.

Would you give up $5.5 million for 7 years to stop a discussion?

He is just being a fan.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by DazzlinDino

He is just being a fan.

How is making up ridiculous imaginary scenarios being a fan?

Maybe the Flames will trade Huberdeau straight up for Makar.

[DazzlinDino]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

How is making up ridiculous imaginary scenarios being a fan?

Maybe the Flames will trade Huberdeau straight up for Makar.

That would be nice. Sometimes fans look for solutions, some far fetched it happens. He is a good poster that wishes we had some answers.

[Jaydee]

Send him to the pressbox this is ridiculous

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Jaydee

Send him to the pressbox this is ridiculous

I know this seems like Hyperbole...but if any other player hadnt registered a point in an entire month? He'd be munching popcorn for a bit.

[Goriders]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

How is making up ridiculous imaginary scenarios being a fan?

Maybe the Flames will trade Huberdeau straight up for Makar.

Okay you’re right. Let him make $10.5 million per season and score zero points. He probably doesn’t have to play after next season.

Should work out well.

[Igottago]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

LOL. The average person even in Calgary wouldn’t know Huberdeau from the next guy in line at the grocery store. And for those that do, most wouldn’t care.

Plus, you are talking about 7 years of a guy’s life. For $73 million. no one is giving that up for a sour look once in a while.

He's not going to give up the money...but if things continue to go this poorly, I think Huberdeau would be wanting out and may look at some sort of concessions to get a fresh start somewhere. Not sure what that would look like as far as contracts go. I don't think he wants the last 7 years of his career to be skating around doing nothing and collecting a cheque either, if for whatever reason this place isn't a fit for him, which certainly seems to be the case. There's no way he's enjoying this. At some point the money is secondary to being in a situation that isn't right.

[DazzlinDino]

Originally Posted by Goriders

Okay you’re right. Let him make $10.5 million per season and score zero points. He probably doesn’t have to play after next season.

Should work out well.

Fans care but we have to leave this one up to management. They see him and talk to him everyday. They probably have discussed different scenarios and have their own ideas about what they will do.

[Paulie Walnuts]

People having a hard time understanding guarantees contracts? It's pretty black and white.

No person would ask to be terminated because they are having a tough time.

If you thought he was being paid for future production that's your own fault, it was clear when he signed that it was based on prior production and we could probably get 3 good years production wise from the deal. I don't think anyone saw this coming but it is what it is.

This is why we have lockouts.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Igottago

He's not going to give up the money...but if things continue to go this poorly, I think Huberdeau would be wanting out and may look at some sort of concessions to get a fresh start somewhere. Not sure what that would look like as far as contracts go. I don't think he wants the last 7 years of his career to be skating around doing nothing and collecting a cheque either, if for whatever reason this place isn't a fit for him, which certainly seems to be the case. There's no way he's enjoying this. At some point the money is secondary to being in a situation that isn't right.

As was pointed out, there's no renegotiating a contract under the CBA anyway.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Jaydee

Send him to the pressbox this is ridiculous

He was one of the best forwards last game, poor move IMO

[Locke]

Originally Posted by dino7c

He was one of the best forwards last game, poor move IMO

By what Metric?

I didnt even know he'd dressed.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Locke

By what Metric?

I didnt even know he'd dressed.

well you obviously didn't watch the game then...they scored one goal, not many points to go around
he had a few nice setups

he played better than Duer, Mangiapane, Dube, ect. ect. ect.

he is nowhere near a 10.5M player we get it this isn't news to anyone, he still isn't the worst player on the roster

[Winsor_Pilates]

How far into the contract would a buyout be possible?

[Classic_Sniper]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Yup the short shifts and lack of cheating for offense are still so noticable to me.

It's still like he doesn't want to get caught in a long shift or being out of position and is heavily over compensating for it.

Not a bad thing...but it can be hard to create offense if you aren't cheating for offense or aren't willing to stretch a shift to get an offensive chance and go for a change.

The only worry is it's due to fitness...which would also explain lack of footspeed compared to Florida. I still wonder if he put on weight to be biggger and stronger (he looks noticeably bigger than he did in Florida to me) and it's come at the expense of speed and stamina.

You can definitely create offense without cheating, guys like Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman are the poster boys for that.

As for Huberdeau, I don’t think a few extra seconds here or there would do much for him at all. He’s played his last 200 minutes without registering a single point, what would another 15 minutes accomplish?

Lastly, his foot speed was always an issue, even when he was in Florida, it’s probably the first thing I noticed. He hid it better in the past because of the types of games he often found himself in, not a whole lot of stopping when you’re playing river hockey.

At this point, Danielle Fujita is his last hope. I thought Backlund could help save his season, but not even #11 could elevate his game. Hopefully Danielle can completely tear down his fundamentals and rebuild his skating like she did with Michael Stone.

Somewhere in that 6’1, 200 pound frame still resides a talented offensive player. He still has elite awareness, vision and some nice moves. I’m not one to believe it has just disappeared overnight or vanished into thin air; it’s just hidden through some really crap skating and a pair of stone hands.

If she can at the very least, help him close gaps better, play the puck with more conviction and up his overall pace, then all those attributes I mentioned above should become more prominent in his game. It’s maybe akin to that of an artist, you give da Vinci the right tools and he can paint you the Mona Lisa. Right now, he’s working with crayons.

[Flamesfan05]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

I think Huberdeau’s work rate is OK. It’s not as visible as, say, a guy like Greer. He’s not a buzz saw. He doesn’t skate at a seemingly high tempo like Mangiapane, who skates for miles (then nothing happens). But he does go to corners, he tries to get into pays (he’s slow so it’s sometimes late).

One thing I will say though - the guy takes super short shifts. Either he’s being disciplined as to shift length as per what the coach is asking, or he’s not in good shape, or he’s so in confident right now he wants off the ice. I’d love to see him stretch a shift. I used to yell at Lucic because he’d overstay his shifts and get burned. But Huberdeaus’ the other way. Two rushes and he’s off the ice, with Backlund and Coleman still playing with whoever jumps on for Huberdeau.

Yeah that’s my main problem with him. He needs to want more ice time but seems both Huska and him are satisfied with his new smaller role