2024-25 Huberdeau - new and improved?

[1qqaaz]

His contract is so long that I fear the effects of his cap hit at the end of his deal. He'll be even older, and the deal will likely be even less cap efficient. It could affect the future competitive window.

But for now, who cares. The team needs to rebuild. As long as he isn't delaying the progression of the younger players. And I have no reason to believe that this is what is happening.

[Erick Estrada]

The contract will be an issue in the back half of this decade but if the salary cap keeps rising it should be a bit less of an issue year over year and most likely almost every team by the end of the decade will have some bad deals like this. I imagine there will be a point where he's bought out but that's a topic for another year.

[Saqe]

I don't think the contract will be an issue. Five years from now, if the tank has been successful and the Flames have gotten the talent they need, those guys are coming out of their ELCs. Right when Huberdeau's deal ends.

[Badgers Nose]

It’s not the contract that bothers me. And I don’t think his poor play is going to affect any of the other players. They’ll probably just work around him. In fact they might already be doing that.

What I don’t understand is how anybody could be so comfortable in mediocrity after setting records the way that he did. I don’t expect him to score that many points for the flames but surely there’s some fire in his belly that makes him wanna feel like a contributor.

I’ve never seen a hockey player kill as many plays as he does with his brainless passing. He was advertised as some kind of amazing passer but maybe it was his teammates anticipating his crazy passes and making them work.

I appreciate the game where he’s stuck up for his teammate. I don’t expect him to play like that all the time either but when you have such a large frame as he does, why not use it to help your team out more often? Finish checks be difficult to play against on the boards. Go back to being a net front presence like he was doing earlier.

I just don’t get it. I would think that he’d have more professional pride than he’s demonstrating.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Saqe

I don't think the contract will be an issue. Five years from now, if the tank has been successful and the Flames have gotten the talent they need, those guys are coming out of their ELCs. Right when Huberdeau's deal ends.

Flames could be paying huge money in 3 years to their top pick in 2026. Parekh could breakout over the next 2 years and require a big money extension. I am just not sure the Flames have 5 years after this one where this contract won’t become an issue. Clearly it is fine right now but I am not sure we have 5 years before young players get paid

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Flames fans are so weird. You can't wish for a tank and then rant about players not playing their best. It's a good thing he's not playing as well as last season. If he played better, the team would possibly win a few more games which is exactly what this organization doesn't need. With all the parity in the NHL, to be the worst, you have to have players underperforming. His salary at the moment doesn't matter at all because it puts the Flames above the floor. He's doing exactly what the team needs this season so instead of hating on him, you should be happy that he's doing the best thing for this organization and that's help this team get to a bottom 3 finish.

Yup, I have zero issue with his play right now. I am 100% on team tank for the first time in my life and drop-offs like these are exactly what is needed for the good of the team in the long run. I am done with year after year of mucky middles and Huberdeau playing up to his contract means that's where the team would be.

It might not be apparent to some, but this is the hockey gods doing us a solid. Embrace it.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Flames fans are so weird. You can't wish for a tank and then rant about players not playing their best. It's a good thing he's not playing as well as last season. If he played better, the team would possibly win a few more games which is exactly what this organization doesn't need. With all the parity in the NHL, to be the worst, you have to have players underperforming. His salary at the moment doesn't matter at all because it puts the Flames above the floor. He's doing exactly what the team needs this season so instead of hating on him, you should be happy that he's doing the best thing for this organization and that's help this team get to a bottom 3 finish.

Yes…yes you can wish for a tank and still wonder what the hell happened to Huberdeau. It’s a good thing he’s not playing well for the tankathon but it’s also shocking how much he’s mailed it in. This doesn’t make fans weird for feeling both these things

[5abi]

My problem is getting paid 10.5. Biggest contract in team history and the guys mailing it in

[SutterBrother]

Originally Posted by Saqe

I don't think the contract will be an issue. Five years from now, if the tank has been successful and the Flames have gotten the talent they need, those guys are coming out of their ELCs. Right when Huberdeau's deal ends.

This. The rebuild clock STARTS when we draft a 1st line center. Until that, it's just putting gas into a broken down car.

5 year minimum from this year.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Flames could be paying huge money in 3 years to their top pick in 2026. Parekh could breakout over the next 2 years and require a big money extension. I am just not sure the Flames have 5 years after this one where this contract won’t become an issue. Clearly it is fine right now but I am not sure we have 5 years before young players get paid

Even if Parekh gets paid, that's not a problem. The Flames have that much cap room.

[Enoch Root]

Another example of the impatience of fans - especially Canadian fans. A player has an off year, you gotta lunch him and run him out of town!

Huberdeau was a useful, contributing player last year. He is not having as good of a season this year, that is pretty indisputable. However, who cares? It is a rebuild year, and he is filling out the roster. There will be times in the years ahead, where the team is playing better and he is playing better. And when that happens, his remaining contract will be much shorter, and the cap will be higher. THAT is when we need to worry about him, and determine what to do with him.

Until then... consider him a tank commander.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Even if Parekh gets paid, that's not a problem. The Flames have that much cap room.

But can they afford to pay multiple young players? If they trade for and sign a RFA needing an extension that could add to the mix.

I think the Huberdeau contract remains irrelevant until the flames are starting to push to compete and I feel like that is coming in less than 5.5 years.

[Saqe]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Flames could be paying huge money in 3 years to their top pick in 2026. Parekh could breakout over the next 2 years and require a big money extension. I am just not sure the Flames have 5 years after this one where this contract won’t become an issue. Clearly it is fine right now but I am not sure we have 5 years before young players get paid

A lot of money coming off the books in three years. Kadri can be bought out if needed. And that's assuming the Flames hit a homerun right away this upcoming draft. Realistically, I think they will be drafting high the next 4-5 years and hopefully hit a homerun with two players (#1C, #1D) during that period. Doesn't even have to be the high picks, but getting lucky with the accumulated ones from selling off current players.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by AFireInside

I just don't understand what anyone expects from him with this team. He's a playmaker/passer with no one with any offensive ability to pass to, and a system designed to play defensively.

Originally Posted by MacFlame

If this were true, I'd expect to see his great playmaking ability on the pp. He has shown no creativity whatsoever. No ability to enter the zone on the pp. He looks slow, and, quite frankly, untalented.

If it were true, other teams would see past it and he should have trade value then. Teams would be lining up to take a PPG player at a discount if they thought he was still capable of that.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

But can they afford to pay multiple young players? If they trade for and sign a RFA needing an extension that could add to the mix.

I think the Huberdeau contract remains irrelevant until the flames are starting to push to compete and I feel like that is coming in less than 5.5 years.

Yes, they can afford that, the way the contracts are setting up, the contracts they are dropping, and how the cap is rising.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Saqe

A lot of money coming off the books in three years. Kadri can be bought out if needed. And that's assuming the Flames hit a homerun right away this upcoming draft. Realistically, I think they will be drafting high the next 4-5 years and hopefully hit a homerun with two players (#1C, #1D) during that period. Doesn't even have to be the high picks, but getting lucky with the accumulated ones from selling off current players.

I disagree they are picking high for 4-5 years and if that is the case I think we see the entire management team canned.

If they are picking high for this year and another 4 that would represent a 8 year playoff drought which would be the worst in franchise history.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Yes, they can afford that, the way the contracts are setting up, the contracts they are dropping, and how the cap is rising.

The good thing is the $10.5am cap hit won’t look so high when guys start getting $15M but I really struggle to see a team that likely wants to compete for division titles and series wins within 5 years being fine having a player providing the negative value that Huberdeau has had here.

I am not going to worry about it until it becomes an issue but simply won’t disregard it as a complete non-factor with no chance of hurting the team down the line. For now and the next 2-3 years it will certainly not hurt the team and a lot can happen in that time

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Another example of the impatience of fans - especially Canadian fans. A player has an off year, you gotta lunch him and run him out of town!

Huberdeau was a useful, contributing player last year. He is not having as good of a season this year, that is pretty indisputable. However, who cares? It is a rebuild year, and he is filling out the roster. There will be times in the years ahead, where the team is playing better and he is playing better. And when that happens, his remaining contract will be much shorter, and the cap will be higher. THAT is when we need to worry about him, and determine what to do with him.

Until then... consider him a tank commander.

It's a weird dogpile (led by that Scorpion tweet). I'm not seeing a whole lot of different play from him this year as opposed to last year, aside from the fact he's not with Kadri and Coronato, all of whom had good years, and the powerplay is sucking (not because of him in particular).

He's suffering, IMO, from Frost not doing well at all. they seemed to have a connection for a while, but it's getting similar to his first season (when he also didn't play with Kadri) where he will make passes, but nothing happens with them (and he gets blamed far a "giveaway" when actually the pass recipient muffed it).

His big year came with Bennett. The centre on the team most like Bennett is Kadri (except Kadri loves the puck a lot more). Of course, that Fla team played a lot differently (and arguably that style wasn't a PO winning one since they got swept by TB and the coach got canned).

[Hot_Flatus]

Last year was the best we will ever see out of Huberdeau as a Flame and it was still nowhere near what you need for a player of his price tag. This year is back to being woeful and its only going to get worse. You can't buy this contract out with all the bonus money, and I can't see any scenario where he is actually at an NHL level in 2-3 years. Best case scenario as a Flames fan will be that he eventually can't physically play anymore and goes on LTIR for something borderline. Even then, I'm not sure what kind of relief that offers the team as bonus money is treated differently IIRC?

[Toonage]

Had this in the PGT, I'll put it here too

Reading about Huberdeau's lack of engagement last night and recently makes me wonder if this is related to his injury at the start of the year. I thought I read (on this site maybe) that once the Flames were out of it for the year he would shut down as he'd need surgery. Any truth to that I wonder?