Flames have leading candidate for head coaching position: report
The Calgary Flames may have found their new head coach.
On Thursday night, several reports came out stating that Ryan Huska is the Flames’ leading candidate for their coaching vacancy. One of those came from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, who spoke about it during the intermission of the Stanley Cup Final between the Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers.
“Nothing is done until it’s done, but the word is that Ryan Huska, who’s been an assistant coach for the Flames for the past five seasons, is the leading contender,” Friedman said.
Huska was recently listed as one of four finalists by Friedman, with the other three being Travis Green, Todd Reirden, and Mitch Love.
The 47-year-old has been an assistant coach for the Flames over the past five seasons. Prior to that, he served as the head coach of the Flames’ AHL club and has also spent time in the past as the bench boss of the Kelowna Rockets in the WHL.
As Friedman mentioned, nothing is done until it’s done, but shortly after his comments, the well-informed Pat Steinberg of Flames Talk had similar thoughts.
“Over the last week or so, kept hearing ‘just don’t count out Ryan Huska’ on Calgary’s coaching vacancy,” Steinberg said. “He’s been a leading candidate for Conroy even before being named GM. Well respected and paid his dues. Jives with [Elliotte Friedman] now reporting he’s the lead contender.”
This hiring would make sense for several reasons, the first being the cost. With Darryl Sutter being owed $8 million over the next two years, the Flames didn’t want to spend a ton of money on a new coach, and Huska will come much cheaper than some other names who were available. He also has relationships with the majority of players on the roster, who have likely spoken highly about him for newly appointed GM Craig Conroy to go this route.
Though nothing has been confirmed, it feels like Huska will be the one to officially land the job based off of Friedman and Steinberg’s reports. It will mark the first major move made by Conroy and could be a defining one for him in his new role.
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