Flames' Huberdeau off to an absurdly better start than past two seasons

It’s still early, but Calgary Flames fans are starting to slowly grow more optimistic that Jonathan Huberdeau is back to his former self.

The 31-year-old has recorded at least a point in three of his four games this season, sitting with three goals and six points overall. Perhaps it’s just a hot stretch, but this looks much more like the 115-point player we saw in 2021-22 when he was with the Florida Panthers.

Huberdeau has been anything but that player with the Flames, managing just 55 and 52 points over the past two seasons. It was a puzzling fall from grace, given that, age-wise, he was still in the prime of his career. Perhaps it was nothing but a drop in confidence.

In each of the past two seasons, it took Huberdeau 11 games to record his sixth point. In 2023-24, it took 15 games for him to get his seventh.

Some have pointed to the fact that Huberdeau has been a streaky player at times in Calgary as evidence that his play will soon fall off. What they are failing to account for, however, is that he has never come close to a start like this.

Getting off to a great start builds confidence, and by Huberdeau’s own admission, he’s never felt this good throughout his entire tenure with the Flames.

“I think it’s the best I’ve felt the past two years,” Huberdeau said following a four-point outing versus the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. “It’s early, but I was feeling good coming into training camp. I worked really hard this summer to be able to [be] at my best.”

It’s no surprise that having their highest-paid player perform at this level has helped the Flames greatly.

They now sit at 4-0-0 on the season following Tuesday’s win over the Chicago Blackhawks. That is their best start since the 2009-10 season, a season in which Brent Sutter was serving as the head coach while Darryl Sutter worked as the general manager.

While it may be unwise to believe that the Flames can continue being one of the league’s best teams throughout the 2024-25 season, they could be much better than most expected should these numbers continue from Huberdeau.

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