Dube demoted: Flames' struggling forward will be a healthy scratch tonight
It appears that Calgary Flames head coach Ryan Huska has seen enough.
After yet another underwhelming performance versus the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday, Dillon Dube will be out of the lineup tonight versus the Ottawa Senators as a healthy scratch. It will mark the first time this season he has been drawn out of the lineup for such a reason.
Dillon Dube and Jordan Oesterle are working late after morning skate, so they’ll be healthy scratches tonight.
Yan Kuznetsov will make his NHL debut on the blueline. #Flames
— Pat Steinberg (@Fan960Steinberg) January 9, 2024
Dube, who doesn’t bring much in terms of physical presence, has just three goals and seven points in 39 games. It is a strange and unexplainable downfall from a player who appeared to be taking strides in the right direction a season ago, when he put up a career-high 45 points in 82 games.
“He hasn’t been the Dillon Dube that he’s capable of being over the last little bit,” Flames’ Huska told reporters this morning. “A lot of that falls on me and the amount of ice time he’s had over the last little while. This just gives him a chance to reset himself and then come back better than ever.”
Since becoming a regular in the Flames’ lineup during the 2019-20 season, Dube has been known to be quite inconsistent. While he has plenty of skill, he hasn’t been able to turn into the player many Flames fans believed he could at the time he was drafted. Set to be an RFA this offseason, he may very well be dawning a different uniform for the 2024-25 campaign.
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