- Craig Conroy confirmed Jonathan Huberdeau will not be ready for Calgary’s Oct. 1 opener
- Huberdeau will skate on his own to start training camp and join the group later
- Read below for what Huberdeau said about his hip and why nobody will name a return date
Jonathan Huberdeau is not going to be in the lineup when Calgary opens the season.
Flames general manager Craig Conroy confirmed Thursday morning that the winger will miss the start of the regular season while he finishes recovering from the hip resurfacing surgery he had in March. Pat Steinberg of QR Calgary passed the update along from the team’s annual charity golf tournament.
He will open training camp skating by himself and get folded into team sessions later on.
The winger talked to reporters at the tournament too, and he had the better half of the news. The 33-year-old said he has been pain free for a while now. Neither he nor Conroy would attach a date to a return.
Calgary shut him down in February, right before the Olympic break, and the surgery followed a month later. Hip resurfacing recovery usually runs seven to nine months, which puts the front end of that window right about now and the back end in December.
Conroy set all of this up last week when he used the word setback on QR770, then spent Friday walking that one back. Thursday sorted out where it actually lands. Not camp, and not opening night.
Preseason starts Sept. 20 against Seattle, and the regular season opens Oct. 1 at home against the Kraken. Prospects report this weekend, with the veterans following next week.
This is year four of the eight-year, $84 million contract Huberdeau signed after the Matthew Tkachuk trade, and that $10.5 million cap hit does not care about hips. He managed 10 goals and 25 points in 50 games last season before Calgary pulled the plug.
Matvei Gridin is the one who gains from another absence. The 20-year-old winger put up 14 points in 24 games after the Olympic break once Huberdeau’s season ended, a 48-point pace across a full schedule. Joel Farabee and Yegor Sharangovich are in line for extra minutes as well.
Huberdeau will be at camp. He is just going to be off on his own sheet while the rest of the group gets going.
