On July 22, 2022, the trajectory of Jonathan Huberdeau’s life changed.

Before that Friday, Huberdeau had played all of his hockey dating back to 2009 with two teams: the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League’s Saint John Sea Dogs or the National Hockey League’s Florida Panthers. He played over 860 games in those two cities, both in the same time zone. The thought was that he would soon be hashing out a long-term extension with the Panthers to stick around South Florida indefinitely.

So suffice it to say, a trade to the Calgary Flames was an adjustment for Huberdeau.

Four years later, Huberdeau remains a work in progress in Calgary.

The first two seasons for Huberdeau in Calgary were kind of rough. In 2022-23, under head coach Darryl Sutter, he struggled to adjust to the structured, physical game of the Western Conference after a decade playing more of a finesse style in the Eastern Conference. Sutter and Huberdeau seemed like oil and water, and between Huberdeau’s challenges adjusting to the Flames’ system and constantly changing role, it just didn’t work. A season after setting a single-season NHL record for assists by a winger, Huberdeau set an NHL record for the largest year-to-year offensive drop-off. He had 55 points in 2022-23.

For 2023-24, the Flames were coached by Ryan Huska, previously an assistant under Sutter. It was another adjustment year, as Huberdeau and Huska seemed to start figuring each other out. Huberdeau found his confidence and offensive game mid-season and had a pretty effective end to the season. He needed a bit of sheltering in terms of deployments and zone starts, but he was starting to find his stride as a Flame. He had 52 points in 2023-24.

Ahead of 2024-25, Huska and Huberdeau chatted and the winger joined the Flames’ penalty kill group in an attempt to have him play a bit more. It largely worked. He wasn’t exactly a Selke Trophy contender – nobody would mistake him for Aleksander Barkov or anything – but he was a more confident player in all situations, required a lot less sheltering, and was able to generate more offence in more situations. He had 62 points in 2024-25.

Let’s not beat around the bush: 2025-26 was tough for Huberdeau.

He suffered an undisclosed upper body injury in the Flames’ 8-1 pre-season thrashing by Vancouver near the end of the exhibition schedule, leading to him missing the first five games of the regular season. When he came back, it took a little while for him to get fully up to speed but he definitely added a bit of offensive swagger to the group that wasn’t there before.

But Huberdeau seemed a step behind for much of the season, constantly trying to make nice plays but seemingly having his timing or pacing a little bit off. The shape of his game was generally perfectly fine, but the details were kinda off – almost a metaphor for the entire 2025-26 Flames squad, if we’re being honest.

So, uh, it turns out that Huberdeau was playing through considerable pain and discomfort due to a hip injury for the entire season, a malady he told the media he started to feel over the previous summer. He was shut down at the Olympic break and went through hip resurfacing surgery in March, with the aim towards being ready to play games when the regular season begins in the fall.

Prior to his shutdown, he posted 25 points in 50 games, a 41-point pace, easily his worst offensive output as a professional.

Huberdeau turns 33 in June, roughly when he’s expecting to be able to start skating again as he works his way back from March’s surgery. When he returns to NHL action in 2026-27, he’s going to be doing so with a fancy new hip.

He’s also going to be doing so with a lot of motivation. Sure, Huberdeau probably won’t hit the lofty offensive highs of his days with Florida again… but he was quite effective in 2024-25, and coming off an injury-hampered season, he’s going to be pretty set on proving he’s not cooked as a player. If you watched the Flames’ power play late in the season and saw the likes of Morgan Frost, Zayne Parekh, Matt Coronato and Matvei Gridin doing fun stuff, you don’t need to stretch your imagination too hard to see where a strong puck distributor like Huberdeau could fit in.

When next season begins, Huberdeau will be the third or fourth-oldest player on the Flames – depending on what happens with Blake Coleman. But he’s someone who cares a lot about being a good teammate and a net positive on the ice. He took great pains in 2024-25 to rework his game, and he played through great pain in 2025-26 trying to help the team. A refreshed, rejuvenated Huberdeau with a brand new hip could be fun to watch in 2026-27.