Former Panthers star Jonathan Huberdeau having tough time in Calgary
Huberdeau was benched for the third period of the Flames comeback win over Nashville on Tuesday
Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports - Former Panthers star Jonathan Huberdeau having tough time in CalgaryIt hasn't been the best of times for Jonathan Huberdeau.
The 30-year-old is playing in his second season with the Calgary Flames after the shocking, mid-summer trade that sent him from sunny South Florida to chilly Alberta.
Unfortunately for the former Florida Panthers fan favorite, his struggles in Calgary have been well documented.
He played 79 games during his first season with the Flames, putting up 15 goals and 55 points.
It was his lowest point and goal totals since the 2014-15 season, his third in the league. He had 15 goals and 54 points that year.
During his 10 seasons with the Panthers, Huberdeau was a star.
The former third overall draft selection had several big seasons with the Panthers, alongside his longtime running mate Sasha Barkov, who was drafted second overall two years after Huberdeau.
It wasn’t just the individual success that highlighted Huberdeau’s time in Florida though.
The team gradually shifted from one mired in mediocrity to what we see today, a franchise that has reached the postseason in four straight years, won multiple playoff rounds and went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.
During what ended up being Huberdeau’s final season with the Panthers, he had an absolute monster year, putting up 30 goals and a whopping 115 points on a Florida team that won the Presidents’ Trophy as the league’s top regular season squad.
That’s part of why it was such a shock when Huberdeau was part of the blockbuster trade that brought Matthew Tkachuk to South Florida.
From a Panthers standpoint, the trade made sense simply because Tkachuk, also coming off a 100-point season with Calgary, is five years younger than Huberdeau. It part of why Florida also included defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, prospect Kai Schwindt and a first-round pick in the deal.
A couple weeks afterwards, Calgary signed Huberdeau to a massive 8-year contract extension worth $84 million.
Considering his first season with the team did not go as well as both sides had hoped, Huberdeau's slow start to the current campaign is more than worrying to the Flames faithful.
Things came to an apparent head on Tuesday night during the Calgary's come from behind 4-2 win over the Nashville Predators.
While the Flames were outscoring Nashville 3-0 during the third period, Huberdeau sat at the end of the bench.
The entire period.
Afterwards, Calgary Head Coach Ryan Huska didn't make a big deal of the benching.
"Just an off-night. It happens," Huska said, according to THN Calgary. "He’s fine. It’s not anything anybody wants to go through ever, but at times it’s gonna happen. You’re not going to have your A-plus game every night."
The Flames are off until Friday night, when they begin a three-game eastern Canadian road trip in Toronto.
It will be interesting to see how Huberdeau responds, but he's always been an extremely high-character guy that meets challenges head-on.
After Tuesday's game, several of Huberdeau's teammates spoke up in his defense.
“I don’t know if the camera caught him, but when we score the go-ahead goal, get those blocks down the stretch, he’s celebrating," said Flames forward Blake Coleman. "He’s excited for the team. He’s a team guy through and through. It’s our job to lift each other up when things aren’t going well. We’ll do that for him and we know that he’s gonna be lifting us up as the year goes on here."
Added forward Dillon Dube: “Huby’s the man. He’s good, the most positive guy I’ve been around. It’s one period of his life, of his career, it’s not a big deal. I don’t think anyone’s too worried about it and I don’t think we should be.”
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