Flames may need to consider increasing Huberdeau and Kadri's ice time
The Calgary Flames have not gotten the bounce-back seasons they were hoping for from Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri.
While the year is still young, the two have gotten off to slow starts in 2023-24, as Huberdeau has five points through nine games while Kadri has just two. Their struggles have unsurprisingly hurt the Flames, who sit at 2-6-1 thus far.
Perhaps the scariest thing about the two starting off slow is their contract situations, as both are on the books for a long time moving forward with significant cap hits. Because of that, it makes moving either player extremely difficult for the Flames. Instead, they may be forced to simply hope that both are able to figure things out.
One thing that head coach Ryan Huska may need to look at doing is increasing their ice time. Though neither player is deserving of that, it may be the only thing that gets them going. Huberdeau averaged just under 17 minutes per game last season, and is only slightly over that mark early this year. It is a drastic drop off from his 115-point season with the Florida Panthers, where he averaged well north of 19 minutes.
As for Kadri, he averaged just north of 17 minutes in his first season with the Flames, and is slightly higher in 2023-24. That again is a far cry from the 19:14 he averaged in his final season with the Colorado Avalanche, a year in which he had a career-high 87 points in 71 games.
Increasing both players’ ice time in order to help give them confidence and perhaps get them more into the flow of things was recently suggested by Paul Bissonnette on the latest episode of the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast. Bissonnette pointed out the fact that they are likely stuck with these two for the foreseeable future, insinuating that Huska should be doing everything he can to try and help them improve.
While some may think giving undeserving players more ice time isn’t the answer, it’s hard to find anyone with a solution. Staying the status quo certainly isn’t the answer, as this Flames group is looking more like a lottery team than a playoff one at the moment. Maybe giving their top two players a bigger opportunity in hopes they can get something going is what needs to be done.
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