LAS VEGAS – It doesn’t get anymore ‘Vegas’ than a stop at the MGM to watch the legendary David Copperfield at work.
And maybe a little Top Golf to get the day started on the right foot.
For Head Coach Ryan and his 13-year-old son, Luke, the Huskas are turning the NHL Draft into a once-in-a-lifetime, father-son extravaganza.
“I wanted to have him here because it's potentially the last one and it gives him a chance to see what the NHL Draft is all about in the current setting,” Huska said following Thursday’s breakfast at the team hotel on The Strip. “Then, at the same time, you get to turn it into a bit of a dad’s trip. During the season, we're busy and you never get the opportunity to do that kind of stuff. It's going to be a lot of fun for both of us here.
“For a coach, you don't really have a ton of say to what's going on, so I enjoy being in the background and listening to guys. But now, I also have – when we're away from the Flames setting – an opportunity to spend some valuable time with my son.”
“It's getting better,” he added of Luke’s golf swing. “He's playing more this summer and he thinks sooner than later he'll be able to take me down.
“But not now.”
Indeed, this is a rare bit of downtime in a coach’s schedule after more than nine months on the grind. And for Huska, it’s been a busy off-season already, spending countless hours poring over game tape from the previous season, before tending to an important piece of business on his own staff.
Earlier this month, he hired Brad Larsen as an assistant coach, replacing the outgoing Marc Savard.
Before arriving in Calgary, Larsen spent nine seasons behind the bench with the Columbus Blue Jackets, including his two – in 2021-22 and 2022-23 – as head coach.
“It was last year – when I first got hired – that he was one of the guys that I talked with after he was let go by Columbus,” Huska said. “I was really interested in him because of the profile. I didn't really know him at all, other than to say 'hello' if I saw him in the hall somewhere. But the timing wasn't right for him and his family, and he felt he needed to take a year away from the game.
“We reconnected at times throughout the year, and then was the process started, I reached back out to him to see if he would have interest.
“You could immediately sense the fire and the excitement was back in after having a year away from the game.
“He made a trip out to Calgary to spend time with (Assistant Coach) Cail (MacLean), (Video Coach) Jamie Pringle, and of course Conny. He had a full day with him and you try to get to know the person and make sure that would be a good fit for the coaching staff. It didn't take long for us to figure out it would be a good fit for both sides.”
With Larsen on board, the Flames will be modifying the duties for the assistants, minus Dan Lambert, who will continue to be responsible for the “development and growth” of the team’s blueliners.
Larsen will take over the penalty-killing duties, while MacLean will be the team’s new lead strategist on the powerplay.
“We've almost made it like a coordinator role, like you see in football,” Huska said.
The powerplay was a bit of a sore spot for the Flames last year, with Huska’s outfit finishing 26th in the league with a 17.9% efficiency rate. While they did see some notable improvements late in the campaign – and in particular, after the arrival of Andrei Kuzmenko – the head coach knows how crucial it is for the Flames to be in the upper percentile both now, and for years to come.
And MacLean, he says, is the right man for the job.
“He's the ultimate worker and he's the ultimate student of the game,” Huska said. “He knows the trends that are going in the game because the time and attention to detail he puts into his work. And I often find that Cail is ahead of the curve in a lot of different things. He'll bring ideas forward on the offensive side before you start to see it happen in the NHL. When you listen to him and how he talks about the powerplay and how he works with players on an individual level, and in a group setting, he's the perfect guy for me.
“Now, especially that he's had experience coaching in the NHL, he knows our players and what make them tick. He knows how to work with offensive players and I think he's going to do a great job of bringing the best out of our powerplay units and try to get them to another level.
“A level that we haven't seen in a couple years.
“It doesn't mean they're going to score all the time. But they're going to be very prepared – and I think they're going to be a group that’s eager to go over the boards and make a difference for our team.”
