What to do with Huberdeau?

[Paulie Walnuts]

Jesus Austin nhl is so embarrassing

[Flamesfan05]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

There's no excuse for treating people poorly.

He wasn’t fired for that

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

So of the 6 players you included:

Four had a better ESP/60 rate than expected.
Two were worse.

So Sutter sucks?

The other six forwards had awful ESP/60 rates. That team was carried offensively by one line the ignored the coaches and 2/3 of that line left town a two months after the season. But yes; 4 out 12 forwards had better ESP/60 than expected for an average team, 3 of them were on the same line.

[Saqe]

I always thought Sutter wanted to get fired. He acted weird as hell, all the bizarre line combinations etc. Probably saw the writing on the wall with this group and didn't mind going back to driving his tractor. I feel bad for Huska though, what a mess for a rookie coach.

[MJK]

Trade him in the CPHL, that’s for certain!

[AustinL_NHL]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Jesus Austin nhl is so embarrassing

Can't say I would ever call myself Jesus, but thank you.

[CroCop]

Originally Posted by Flamesfan05

He wasn’t fired for that

Hmm you sure bout that

[GranteedEV]

I bet Huberdeau's performance skyrockets when Kylington returns. He really fed off Forsling in FLA

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Didn't see this posted ...

Super interesting scout written look at Huberdeau and why things aren't working in Calgary.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article...h-this-season/

Sounds like Kylington would be just the kind of engaged, skating d-man who would suit Huberdeau’s game.

EDIT: GranteedEV beat me to the punch.

[Enoch Root]

Great article and analysis. For those of you who don't think it's too exceptionally long to read, I recommend that you do. It is really good, and I think she nails it. There are several good points, but the one that jumped out at me was the following:

While the MO of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Panthers was finding space off the puck with curved routes, east-west cuts, and delays or changes in speed, the Flames prefer to establish close proximity to the net and like to head straight north off the rush.

Doing so often involves skating into traffic and closing the gap between oneself and a defender. The space where a pass can hypothetically be received therefore shrinks, as does the window of time the lane remains available.

This articulates so well, what has been bugging me for some time: the Flames, on odd man rushes, rarely make a good play because they rarely get open - they literally skate straight into the defenders (there are video clips in the article, demonstrating this).

There are multiple layers of problems, with respect to Huberdeau's game right now (including confidence, etc), but a couple of clearly evident problems are a hesitation before he passes, and passing into the defender. When you realize that the other Flame attackers are either skating into the defenders, skating into the same lanes, or exiting stage left, it explains the hesitation: his passing outlets simply don't exist.

[FormerPresJamesTaylor]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Jesus Austin nhl is so embarrassing

They've made hating Huberdeau their entire personality, which makes them look like a little dweeb

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

I bet Huberdeau's performance skyrockets when Kylington returns. He really fed off Forsling in FLA

Is there any indication Kylington will ever return?

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

I bet Huberdeau's performance skyrockets when Kylington returns. He really fed off Forsling in FLA

I think we have to be prepared for the possibility that Kylington isn't coming back at this point. There has been nothing but silence since the first day of camp.

[AustinL_NHL]

Originally Posted by FormerPresJamesTaylor

They've made hating Huberdeau their entire personality, which makes them look like a little dweeb

To be fair, I'm also probably singlehandedly Huberdeau's biggest supporter this season in terms of $$ betting on a bounceback (as in he's somewhat responsible for parts of $15k of investment this season) so I've already walked the walk, now I'm just talking the talk.

Just doing it backwards lol

I would love for him to not be what he is <3

[jlh2640]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

I bet Huberdeau's performance skyrockets when Kylington returns. He really fed off Forsling in FLA

Kylington will never be back. Time to move on, and if he did ever make it back, he wouldn’t be able to be relied on at all with any expectations. He’s missed almost 2 years of hockey.

[Red_Baron]

With Gaudreau, crowding the defenders allowed him to do his thing and the play opened up on the cycle. With Huberdeau, it closes things off and kills the play off the rush.
It looks so easy to fix but the habits of the players that have been formed for a couple of years will need a complete rewiring. Better off trading some of the vets and bringing the youth up from the farm and taking our lumps and ride it out.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Red_Baron

With Gaudreau, crowding the defenders allowed him to do his thing and the play opened up on the cycle. With Huberdeau, it closes things off and kills the play off the rush.
It looks so easy to fix but the habits of the players that have been formed for a couple of years will need a complete rewiring. Better off trading some of the vets and bringing the youth up from the farm and taking our lumps and ride it out.

That's true about Gaudreau as a playmaker. He is really good at buying time before making a pass. If defenders try to rush him, he can usually maneuver through it. Huberdeau plays a less patient game and tends to want to make quick plays. If he gets rushed, he usually just passes immediately.

Gaudreau and Tkachuk were also better at saucer passes and lobbing short passes, which I think played more into the style the Flames played.

[taxbuster]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Great article and analysis. For those of you who don't think it's too exceptionally long to read, I recommend that you do. It is really good, and I think she nails it. There are several good points, but the one that jumped out at me was the following:


This articulates so well, what has been bugging me for some time: the Flames, on odd man rushes, rarely make a good play because they rarely get open - they literally skate straight into the defenders (there are video clips in the article, demonstrating this).

There are multiple layers of problems, with respect to Huberdeau's game right now (including confidence, etc), but a couple of clearly evident problems are a hesitation before he passes, and passing into the defender. When you realize that the other Flame attackers are either skating into the defenders, skating into the same lanes, or exiting stage left, it explains the hesitation: his passing outlets simply don't exist.

Long read and videos to study, but surprisingly well worth the effort to do so in understanding why he fails currently and what worked previously.

While Flames play the same "5-man unit up the ice", there are two notable differences: the first is that FLA's forwards started close to Huby and then moved out, separating themselves from the opposing d-men, often taking a curved route...this means they needed to be able to skate faster than Huberdeau (not hard) but more that they needed to be clear aboout WHEN to break. Flames tend to move up close to each other and stay there, so the D is always in the way of a pass. Great analysis on that.

The second piece is the trailing effort of the offensive D...and while Calgary does this, they tend to be further back and put themselves out of the immediate play...so Huby ends up standing still when he gets a pass...and loses it.

Faster feet, faster reactions and higher hockey IQ for his line / D would help. Seems like FLA had that formula nailed down.

[ComixZone]

We're going to end up trading him to Montreal for Anderson in a 1 for 1 trade, and Huberdeau will go on to be a point per game player for them for a number of years because they have a good, pace pushing, modern coach.

Montreal will do well.

Calgary will move on into their rebuild.

Calgary is scouting Montreal/Arizona tonight. Josh Anderson, of 1 point in 9 games, is on their PP2 unit.

[memphusk]

#### yeah. I would really like this. Well thought out.