Q&A: Flames coach Ryan Huska on latest hire, power-play duties and much more (2024)

Calgary Flames bench boss Ryan Huska just rounded out his coaching staff, and just rounded the bend into his second year on the job.

Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson checked in with the Flames skipper, freshly returned from a trip to see one of his star players, to chat about his new co-worker, how he’ll divvy up the duties among his assistants and what he’s watching for in the 2024 Stanley Cup final …

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Q: Let’s start with Tuesday’s news … You’ve hired Brad Larsen as an assistant coach, filling out your staff for the 2024-25 campaign. What makes Brad the right fit?

Huska: “It even goes back to last year for me. I had a description in mind as to who I wanted to be around me on my staff, and I really wanted to find someone who not only had NHL experience, but had associate or head-coaching experience. Because I really think it’s important that you have somebody that you can lean on, somebody that has been in your situation before and somebody that has ideas that are coming from outside the organization. So I feel really lucky that I was able to reconnect with Brad here and we were able to work something out, because he really checks off all of that for me. And maybe the biggest and most important thing is we’re bringing in a really good, hard-working person. I’m really excited about that.”

Q: You just used the term ‘reconnect.’ Brad mentioned that he decided after being dismissed as head coach of the Blue Jackets in April 2023 that he would take a winter off, that he wasn’t going to immediately pursue another job. Had you reached out to gauge his interest?

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Huska: “Yeah, I did last year. We had a few conversations. I think when you look at his situation, he’s been doing it for a lot of years and he felt it was in his and his family’s best interest just to take the year and regroup, if you will. We started to connect again and you could tell he was excited to get himself back into the game. Thankfully, over some conversations between he and I and a conversation with Conny (GM Craig Conroy) and then he made a trip in to see both of us, we were able to convince him to come and join our team.”

Q: What will be Brad’s duties on your staff? He replaces Marc Savard, who worked primarily with the forwards and power-play. Is it as simple as Brad inheriting those roles?

Huska: “No, we’re adjusting some things. Brad’s responsibility is that he’s going to work with the forwards and he’s going to be a go-between for me and the coaches. He’s going to be someone that all our coaches can lean on. And then he’s going to be responsible for the penalty-kill. The direction that we’re going to go now is Cail (MacLean) is going to be responsible for our power-play and also the forwards, with Brad. So they’ll work a lot on the five-on-five side of things together. Cail will have the power-play, Brad will have the penalty-kill and then Dan (Lambert) is going to be responsible for the defencemen. You’re seeing with more and more teams now where it’s almost like each position is a little more specialized, almost like a coordinator in football. So I think this will be a really good switch for our staff, as a whole.”

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Q: I don’t have to tell you that the power-play has been a hot topic around Calgary after finishing in the bottom-third in the league in 2023-24. What makes Cail, now entering his fourth season on the Flames’ coaching staff, the right person for that role?

Huska: “The one thing that I appreciate with Cail is how he really stays up on the trends and the themes of the game, and he’s really dialled in to what the top players are doing. He does take a lot of pride in watching power-plays, and he comes up with ideas and suggestions for what he thinks would work. Even over the course of the early portion of the summer, we’ve had different conversations about how to beat certain penalty-kills. So he’s really, really engaged in it. And the next thing for me, why I think he’s ready for it and I think he’s going to do an awesome job, is because he really works and he takes a lot of pride in everything he does. He’s had an opportunity now to spend a number of years around offensive players, guys that are at this level among the best in the business, and I think he has the respect now and I also think the ideas that he’s going to bring and the detailed preparation, all that stuff, is going to help our power-play take another step. As you mentioned with your question, it is a topic of conversation and you need your power-play to generate momentum for you, you need it to win hockey games, and I feel like Cail is going to do just an outstanding job working with our players and the rest of our staff in that area.”

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Q: You’re just back with spending some time with Jonathan Huberdeau in Montreal. What goes into a trip like that?

Huska: It’s similar to the phone calls that I make with all our players. This one worked where there was an opportunity, with our schedules, to get together and spend a bit more time together than you normally would. Really what it comes down to, you talk a little bit about the past season, you talk about areas that we can come together and do a bit better job as a coach/player, and then looking ahead and where we see that we can take his game and our team’s game. It was a really good conversation that we did have.”

Q: It’s been a year now since you were promoted to your current role at the Saddledome. If you take stock of the past 12 months, is there one thing you’re especially proud of and one thing that you wish you’d done differently in your first season as head coach of the Flames?

Huska: “There’s always things that you’re proud of, for sure, like the leadership group that we’ve established and incorporating some younger players into our lineup. And there are certain things that when you reflect back upon, you would do a little bit differently, and some of those have to do with some of the ups and downs that we had as a team. I feel like having been in this chair now for a year, there’s areas that I feel like we can tweak with our game plan and there’s different ways that I can approach the players, both individually and in a group setting, to try to get more out of them. Really, that’s what it’s all about is making sure that we’re all together and we’re all connected and pushing in that right direction. It was a good year in regards to me learning and feeling really good about where I’m at. Now, I’m looking forward to taking that next step with this bunch of players and the staff that we have.”

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Q: Does a coach get excited about the possibilities and potential targets as the NHL Draft approaches?

Huska: “Not as excited as the GM and the management side and the scouts, of course. When you’re picking high, like we are at ninth overall, that means we as coaches didn’t do our job. So yes, you can see how whoever we’re going to get, that calibre of player, is going to help us moving forward. But as a coach, you always reflect and it’s like, ‘Yeah, but I don’t want to be picking ninth.’ We want to be picking into the 20s or something like that, because that’s a positive reflection of what you were able to do on the ice. Yes, it’s nice to know that we’re going to get a real quality player, somebody that hopefully we can work to build our team around as we move forward. But at the same time, it’s not really where we as a coaching staff want to be picking.”

Q: Last one … We’re all paying attention to the Stanley Cup final, but how does a coach watch these big games? What are you looking for?

Huska: “For me and our staff, we watch to see if there is anything new that teams are doing that we could potentially incorporate or put into our game, in some way, shape or form. I also watch the coaches, the way they’re handling their lines and their matchups in certain situations. I watch it as a fan, as well. But oftentimes when I get into the rink the next day, when I have a chance to re-watch a game that I maybe wanted to see again, I look at all that in a little more detail.”

wgilbertson@postmedia.com

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