Yahoo Sports Flames Head Coach Offers His Areas For Improvement in 2025
Ahead of the Calgary Flames' home matchup against the Utah Hockey Club, Head Coach Ryan Huska spoke to the media. When asked what areas his team needs to concentrate on and improve on most in 2025, he had two big ideas.
"I think there's a couple for our team; we still need to keep the hand on the chances against," said Huska.
As of Jan. 3, the Flames were 19th in the NHL for goals against per game with 2.97. With a negative-10 goal differential, the team has given up more offense than they've created overall this season.
With the trade deadline approaching, more people are shifting to the opinion that GM Craig Conroy would rather keep defenseman Rasmus Andersson. Keeping him around with an extension will be important to help stabilize the team's defense longer term.
"Then it would be consistency," Huska added, "We want to make sure we get the same effort every night."
No Flames player has been more consistent through December than Jonathan Huberdeau. With 15 points in the month, he enjoyed multiple-point streaks and helped the team to a 6-3-3 record.
Another fairly consistent scorer has been center Nazem Kadri. With a current streak of five points in his last four games, he also had a productive final month of 2024. Scoring 11 points in the month, he and his linemate Huberdeau have found great chemistry this year.
If these two players can continue to keep the top line hot, and a few more teammates find some consistency, the Flames could battle to keep their wildcard spot in 2025.
Yegor Sharangovich is one player who has been accused of lacking some consistency this season. After a great year last year, scoring 59 points in 82 games for the Flames, he has produced only 10 points in his 30 games played this year. With a point in his last game of 2024, he will look to turn the page and keep that up in the new year.
After a surprising start to the Flames season in the year 2024, they woke up in 2025 as a playoff team. If the team and coach Huska can polish up some details and start playing a solid game night in and night out, they could look to remain as one.
