In July 2022, in the aftermath of a season where he set the single-season National Hockey League assists record for a left wing, Jonathan Huberdeau was traded to the Calgary Flames as part of a blockbuster transaction that sent Matthew Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers.

In August 2022, then-Flames general manager Brad Treliving inked Huberdeau to a mammoth contract, the largest in franchise history: $84 million over eight seasons, with a $10.5 million average annual value.

In March 2026, after dealing with increasing pain in his hip since the previous summer, Huberdeau underwent hip resurfacing surgery conducted by surgical specialist Dr. Edwin Su. Flames rehab sports physiotherapist Scott Cyr made this comment to the official site in mid-March, when Huberdeau was beginning his rehabilitation, which certainly suggests that the hip was a longer-term issue that merely worsened during the summer of 2025.

For what it’s worth, in four seasons with the Flames, Huberdeau had the following offensive outputs:

Huberdeau joined the Flames after three consecutive seasons in Florida scoring at over a point-per-game pace, and he was given a hefty contract by the Flames in no small part because of that very impressive body of work. While it was probably unreasonable to expect Huberdeau to replicate his impressive 115-point 2021-22 campaign upon arriving in Calgary – between figuring out the more structured Western Conference style, the more extensive travel, and the general personal upheaval of moving to a new city after so many years in Florida – Huberdeau’s hefty drop-off has been a source of alarm for many, with the Quebec product’s deal frequently appearing on “worst contract in the NHL” lists. (It’s worth noting that Huberdeau drastically changed his game heading into the 2024-25 season, focusing more on two-way fundamentals and taking a big step forward offensively and in his overall game.)

It’s probably reasonable, based on what we know now, to attribute at least some of Huberdeau’s scoring drop-off in Calgary to physical wear-and-tear.

One of the most frequent questions we’ve heard from Flames fans over the summer – honestly, ever since Huberdeau went under the knife in March – is how Huberdeau will look on the ice after undergoing surgery. After all, and we really want to emphasize this: hip resurfacing surgery sounds like it sucks.

Back in 2022, around when Washington Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom had the surgery, the great folks at Russian Machine Never Breaks did a deep dive on the procedure. The whole thing is worth your time, but here’s a snippet describing it.

Among the other athletes that went through the same surgery, as noted by RMNB: Backstrom, Ed Jovanovski, Ryan Kesler, Mike Sillinger, and tennis star Andy Murray. (Former Flames forward Sean Monahan went through two hip labrum surgeries, generally considered to be less invasive than hip resurfacing.)

Backstrom played 47 games across three seasons for Washington after the surgery, rejoining the Capitals midway through 2022-23 but shutting himself down for the rest of his contract early in 2023-24 due to some discomfort. He ended up returning to Sweden to continue his career and remains an active pro. Jovanovski played just 37 games after his surgery, got bought out, then retired. Kesler and Sillinger both had surgery at the end of their careers for quality-of-life reasons. Murray had surgery and returned to playing six months later, and played at a pretty high level for five more years, though he wasn’t as elite as he was earlier in his career. In other words: post-surgery outcomes can vary quite a lot.

Huberdeau’s primary skill on the ice has always been his strong offensive vision and passing ability, with his mobility merely being something that enabled him to use those skills. It’s probably reasonable to suspect that some of his production dip over the past few seasons was related to whatever was hampering his hip. But it’s probably reasonable to hope that he can be more mobile and effective after hip surgery than he was playing on a hip that required surgery.

But given what we know about hip resurfacing surgery, and how NHL players age physically in their 30s, we’re not sure how reasonable it is to expect a full offensive bounce-back for Huberdeau in 2026-27. We’re hopeful that he’s able to be a full pain-free on-ice participant for the Flames this season, and we’re very curious what a pain-free Huberdeau looks like on the ice.