[News] Ryan Huska new Head coach of Adirondack

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Love this hire. One of the best WHL coaches. Young, a proven winner. Can obviously develop young players into NHLers.

Awesome off season for us so far adding Treliving, Conroy, Pascall, and now Huska. Love all these hires.

[Rick M.]

Originally Posted by Matty81

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Great hire for the flames. Huge loss for the rockets

Matty, can you give us any additional insight on this guy, as you are in Kelowna?

[Fighting Banana Slug]

I can't imagine the AHL coach will have any bearing on the draft, but I've been pumping Justin Kirkland's tires for a while now (especially if he slipps to Colorado's second).

[theoforever]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

....Awesome off season for us so far adding Treliving, Conroy, Pascall, and now Huska. Love all these hires....

Cautiously optimistic about the new hires. We have been this road before and always with disastrous results.
The times when I said 'In Sutter We Trust' are long gone.
Those guys will have to show they can do the job before I jump on that wagon again.
Ok, I love the Conroy hire, cannot help it.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by theoforever

We have been this road before and always with disastrous results.

Which road?

[theoforever]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Which road?

Hiring guys without experience, hiring guys with experience, always starting with high hopes and always under delivered. I remember Gilberts, Buttons, Risers, etc. Sucking for most of couple decades, the young guns era, or whatever. Take your pick.
Like I said cautiously optimistic for now.........

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by theoforever

Hiring guys without experience, hiring guys with experience, always starting with high hopes and always under delivered. I remember Gilberts, Buttons, Risers, etc. Sucking for most of couple decades, the young guns era, or whatever. Take your pick.
Like I said cautiously optimistic for now.........

[ForeverFlameFan]

Am I the only one excited with all of these new changes? I was sad when Ward wasn't coming back, but just weeks later, we find someone who looks like he'll do a hell of a job? So many positives to look forward to next season, especially what has occurred this offseason; New GM, new AGM's, new farm team location, and a new farm head coach. I don't even know what to look forward to the most now.

[Da_Chief]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

Am I the only one excited with all of these new changes? I was sad when Ward wasn't coming back, but just weeks later, we find someone who looks like he'll do a hell of a job? So many positives to look forward to next season, especially what has occurred this offseason; New GM, new AGM's, new farm team location, and a new farm head coach. I don't even know what to look forward to the most now.

Yes you clearly are! Just ignore all the previous positive posts.

[theoforever]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

Am I the only one excited with all of these new changes? I was sad when Ward wasn't coming back, but just weeks later, we find someone who looks like he'll do a hell of a job? So many positives to look forward to next season, especially what has occurred this offseason; New GM, new AGM's, new farm team location, and a new farm head coach. I don't even know what to look forward to the most now.

Those are interesting times we live in as Flames fans, but there is also a Chinese proverb like that.....
Looking forward to the seeing our farm team, should be a good one.
Lots of things look like positives, but reserving judgment until some results are evident. That's not raining on the parade.

[Red John]

Rockets season ticket holder chiming in here.

This is an unreal hire. Ryan Huska is eventually going to be in the NHL as a coach and its shocking that a team didn't hire him before now.

From having chatted a bit with Ryan here's what you can expect. He's a very calm cerebral guy. Almost never gets animated with refs or players. However he has a tremendous work ethic (think Treliving) and expects the same from players. He's more focused on process than a final result - believing that if you play the game the right way and everyone buys in then the results will take care of themselves.

The level of hockey IQ he has is off the charts. He thinks the game at such a high level and while he won't be stuck on one particular strategy he does expect every player to play a 200 foot game.

His results lately in Kelowna have been staggering. Won the 2009 WHL championship with a team that was the 5th seed. Won 52 games with the youngest team in the league in 2012, then won 57 times with them this past year, and neither team had an overage ringer or superstar player.

Not a rah-rah guy, but a quietly intense guy that players will want to play for and he certainly won't be walked over.

Need to add a bit to the talk about developing defensemen. Ryan hasn't worked with the defensemen for years with the Rockets exclusively - that job belongs to Dan Lambert. But his insistence on a team game, rolling four lines and everyone taking care of their own zone has allowed the defensemen to develop in an insulated system that never hangs them out to dry. So while perhaps he isn't directly responsible for Weber, Keith, Edler, Myers, Gorges, Barrie, Hannan, Schenn etc. his focus on process has indirectly lead to a lot of positive results individually and team-wise.

Could easily see Huska getting groomed for the Flames job once Hartley's time is over.

[Da_Chief]

I think if all goes well Huska will take Hartley's job eventually.

[theoforever]

Listening to the Ryan Huska interview, he sounds like a good guy, well spoken. Talked about having to prove he can coach at higher level, down to earth. Good....

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by Da_Chief

I think if all goes well Huska will take Hartley's job eventually.

Yeah, makes sense.

Hartley's contract is up after this season so you hire the young accomplished junior coach to head up the farm team for the year. Lock him up now and if he makes a smooth transition from coaching kids to coaching professionals you have him at the ready to up him to the NHL.

[FeyWest]

Originally Posted by Parallex

Yeah, makes sense.

Hartley's contract is up after this season so you hire the young accomplished junior coach to head up the farm team for the year. Lock him up now and if he makes a smooth transition from coaching kids to coaching professionals you have him at the ready to up him to the NHL.

True, but if Hartley shows positive direction with the team and BT likes what he does I could see them re-upping him for another year or two and give Huska some time to adapt to a more professional environment....

Of course this is if he doesn't blow Hartley out of the water and pushes for an NHL coaching job

[Monahan23]

Really like this hire

[CalgaryKid]

interview for those interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zZO1olALoE

[Pierre "Monster" McGuire]

I said it before, but Ward's hockey ideology didn't fit Treliving and Burke's ideology, so it's important to keep continuity in the organization. With this hire, and from everything Red John described, there's a big emphasis on the team game and rolling four lines. I love that and it perfectly reflects what Hartley was able to do last season.

Good hire. Hopefully Huska's winning ways will be an easy transition to the pro game. He's certainly inheriting an extremely skilled group.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Parallex

Yeah, makes sense.

Hartley's contract is up after this season so you hire the young accomplished junior coach to head up the farm team for the year. Lock him up now and if he makes a smooth transition from coaching kids to coaching professionals you have him at the ready to up him to the NHL.

Huska will not be an NHL head coach in a year. Good lord, people.

(happy with the hire though)

[Matty81]

Originally Posted by Rick M.

Matty, can you give us any additional insight on this guy, as you are in Kelowna?

Sorry about the delay, wanted to write a good response after work... RJ already wrote a great summary and is very knowledgeable about the rockets and the dub. A bit long but my thoughts on Huska or at least his teams in the last 5/6 years I've watched them;

- Up tempo hockey built on an aggressive forecheck and a quick transition game. Forwards all backchecked hard. Skate skate skate. Seemed like most of their even strength goals come off turnovers and rushes. Compared to some NHL teams, way less reliant on the cycle for offense.

- Wolfpack mentality, everybody plays, everybody pulls in the same direction. He rolls all 4 lines and not just quick shifts, the 3rd and 4th liners can see almost as much ice as the 1st. Also seemed to have about 3 pp units at times.

- Had a quick roster with a ton of commitment from the players and good puck skills throughout. Not very many big guys compared to some of their rivals like Victoria and Seattle and not as many guys who fight. Golborne was the tough guy this year and he is no one shift a game kind of fighter. Not to say they got pushed around, they stood their ground but they never gooned it up. Fighters welcome but they have to be able to play hockey.

- Echoing what Red John said, very intelligent, thoughtful guy. Doesn't lead by yelling or screaming. Very cerebral and really respected in the community. I am sure he could adjust a strategy for any roster.

- Developing young defencemen has almost been ridiculous. Weber, Keith, Edler etc were before my time but even this year's club, there are 7 of 8 players with a legitimate chance of a cup of coffee in the bigs and that's almost purely down to coaching and development. Lees and Bowey were high bantam picks but the rest were diamonds in the rough and you saw them noticeably improve month to month. Defensive positioning and first pass out of the zone especially. He produces quick, mobile, well positioned defencemen really suited for the modern game.

- Another thing I really like about the way he handles young dmen is he encourages them to join the rush or pinch if they are inclined. With young guys with offensive instincts like Bowey and Tyson Barrie he didn't just round them out, he continued to build on their strengths.

- Willing to give key roles to very young players and wins with them. In recent years players like Rourke Chartier, Nick Merkley and Riley Stadel have come in and got a taste at 15 and then been big parts of the team at 16. By the time they are at their first draft they are already approaching 150 games which you don't usually see with smaller guys.

Overall I can't say enough about what he did here. He took a team with no big name 1st round nhl prospects and made them the best team in the CHL for most of the season. I can't think of a better guy to bring into a rebuilding organization at the AHL level, for me this is a grand slam.

Biggest thing I will be interested to see is buy-in at the AHL level. His teams here all bought in to his system and it's cliche to say it but really looked like a team. Can he get the same buy in from a bunch of guys who were all the stars on their CHL team? I think so but it will be a new challenge for him to manage a bit bigger egos.