Huberdeau needs to be 'way better' for Flames

DETROIT --When the 2023 Honda NHL All-Star Game came to South Florida on Saturday, the Florida Panthers' all-time leading scorer wasn't there. Jonathan Huberdeau spent his recent break in the Bahamas and Miami instead.

"It was good to get some sun," Huberdeau said Wednesday.
The 29-year-old forward is still adjusting from the blockbuster trade that sent him from the Panthers to the Calgary Flames on July 25.
After leading the NHL with 85 assists and tying for second with 115 points in 80 games last season, Huberdeau has 33 points (10 goals, 23 assists) in 48 games this season, which is fifth on the Flames.
"My game is different here, the way you've got to play," he said. "I've got to be way better, and I've got to find a way to be way better. That's the adjustment.
"What do we have left, like, 31] games? At this point, [I want to have
, and a conditional first-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft. Florida acquired forward Matthew Tkachuk and a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2025 draft.
"I think the biggest adjustment for Jonathan was getting traded," Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. "You're in one place the whole time. Deep down, you probably think you're going to play your whole career there. He wasn't expecting to be traded."
There was a culture shock on and off the ice.
Huberdeau went from a wide-open offensive team that led the NHL in goals (337) last season to a structured team that allowed the third-fewest goals (206). He also went from a warm, laid-back market to a cold, intense one.
"Polar opposites," said Detroit Red Wings defenseman Ben Chiarot, who finished last season with the Panthers after three seasons with the Montreal Canadiens and five with the Winnipeg Jets.
Now consider this: Huberdeau's 115 points were tied for second in the NHL last season with Johnny Gaudreau, who had 40 goals and 75 assists in 82 games for the Flames. Gaudreau signed a seven-year, $68.25 million contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets as an unrestricted free agent on July 14.
Tkachuk, who had 104 points (42 goals, 62 assists) in 82 games last season, told the Flames he did not want to sign a long-term contract with them as a restricted free agent before being traded to the Panthers, with whom he then immediately signed an eight-year contract.
Huberdeau, who had one year remaining on a six-year contract he signed with the Panthers on Sept. 7, 2016, signed an eight-year, $84 million extension with the Flames on Aug. 5.
Gaudreau leads Columbus with 49 points (14 goals, 35 assists) in 51 games this season. Tkachuk leads Florida with 71 points (27 goals, 44 assists) in 50 games. Each played in the All-Star Game, and Tkachuk was named most valuable player after getting seven points (four goals, three assists) in the 3-on-3 tournament.
"It's been tough, obviously, coming off my best season last year, and then you come in here, I've got no points," Huberdeau said with a laugh, not that he found it funny. "So, it's tough. I know I still have it in me. It's not because I can't make plays."
Huberdeau said he has watched video of himself from last season a couple of times to see what he was doing differently. He shot the puck more often (2.78 shots on goal per game compared to 1.65 this season), but he said that's because he had the puck more often. He has always been a pass-first player.
"My strength is, I see the play," Huberdeau said. "But if the play doesn't develop like I want it to, then I get stuck, and then I make a play that I don't want to do, and then I look like [garbage]. It's all that I need to figure out."
Huberdeau said he can take more upon himself individually.
"I've got to keep the puck more, but that's the kind of stuff I've got to work on in the summer," he said. "Kind of say, 'It's not going to be the same,' and I've got to be more selfish with the puck and keep the puck, skate a little bit more and maybe beat some guys 1-on-1 that I didn't have to do last year."
Huberdeau added that although his offensive struggles are personal, he needs to stay positive. The Flames (24-17-10) have 58 points, the same as the Colorado Avalanche (27-18-4), who hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
"I feel we have more of a playoff team here," Huberdeau said. "We've just got to get there. It's going to be a grind, but I feel if we get there, I think we have more of a chance than having a team that's really good in the regular season offensively."
Sutter called Huberdeau a "really good pro" and pointed out that it's a big change when a player who has spent his entire career in the Eastern Conference moves to the West.
"There's an adjustment, and he'll make that adjustment," Sutter said. "It's taken him some time. He'll make it. No problem. No issue. But there's an adjustment.
"There's different styles, and there's different … just the travel, that alone is different. There's so many things involved in it. It's not on the player or the team or anything like that. It takes time."