{"id":183594,"date":"2025-10-01T22:44:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T22:44:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/183594\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T22:44:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T22:44:07","slug":"nazem-kadri-jonathan-huberdeau-split-as-calgary-flames-look-to-find-more-offence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/183594\/","title":{"rendered":"Nazem Kadri, Jonathan Huberdeau split as Calgary Flames look to find more offence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Calgary Flames<\/a> forward Nazem Kadri<\/a>, fresh off a season where he scored a career-high 35 goals, offered an innovative solution to boost his team\u2019s offence, which was fourth worst in the league a season ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe we can just get the other team to pull the goalie and play without a goaltender,\u201d the veteran centre said with a wry smile Wednesday morning ahead of the Flames\u2019 tilt versus a Vancouver Canucks<\/a> squad that\u2019s sending the likes of Elias Pettersson<\/a>, Brock Boeser<\/a>, and Kiefer Sherwood<\/a> to the Saddledome.<\/p>\n

After three years of cycling through different linemates, including stints with each other, Kadri and left winger Jonathan Huberdeau<\/a> played more than 650 minutes at five-on-five together last season, and both found success. Huberdeau had 62 points, his highest total as a Flame. Their most frequent linemate was 22-year-old Matt Coronato<\/a>, who the organization views as a possible 30-goal, two-way threat.<\/p>\n

So far through training camp, however, Huberdeau and Kadri have rarely been on a line together. Head coach Ryan Huska<\/a> currently has Kadri centering Joel Farabee<\/a> and Yegor Sharangovich<\/a>. Huberdeau is with Coronato and Morgan Frost<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more about finding something else right now,\u201d Huska said, adding that it\u2019s easier to experiment with that chemistry now than during the season. \u201cThe three of them [Huberdeau-Frost-Coronato] seem to have something going.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shift is also about igniting Frost and Farabee, both of whom are skating in their first full training camps with the team <\/a> after being acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers<\/a> last season.<\/p>\n

The Flames view Frost as an offensive centre who they want to eventually rotate in on key defensive situations. They just want to see him drive the net more. The early returns have been promising. Frost is tied for the league lead with six preseason points and said he\u2019s found a groove on the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe spend all day together anyway, so it\u2019s pretty normal at this point,\u201d he said of his connection with Coronato. \u201cHe\u2019s so dangerous if you find him in the slot anywhere\u2026just want to find him wherever you can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huska called Huberdeau the \u201cdad\u201d of the trio and said he was enjoying the role of elder statesman. Frost is embracing the chance to have the playmaker on his left side.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve played a couple years now but it\u2019s still so cool to me just to come to the rink and see my name next to a guy like Huby,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we can score goals and be dangerous in the offensive zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Farabee will likely see time on various lines during the season because of his ability to forecheck, play physical, and kill penalties. Huska wants him to feel empowered by the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re going to see him in different situations this year,\u201d Huska said. \u201cHe\u2019s going to kill penalties one night. The next night, he\u2019ll be on the power play. He\u2019s going to be a bit of a jack-of-all-trades for us. I do anticipate he\u2019ll be bumped around the lineup\u2026he\u2019s fluid. He\u2019s able to be moved around.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he settles in with new linemates, Kadri understands his coach\u2019s thinking. <\/p>\n

Kadri, Huberdeau, and Coronato combined for 40 per cent of Calgary\u2019s 220 goals a season ago. For a Flames team that was one goal away from making the playoffs, spreading the wealth (along with systems tweaks that Huska has said they will implement) could pay dividends.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a balance in lines could also be pivotal and spread [the offence] out a little more,\u201d Kadri said. \u201cYou give opposition teams tougher looks and tougher matchups\u2026but we have to continue to shoot the puck.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Huska, it\u2019s not a permanent switch but the chance to see whether he can rely on other duos and trios during the season. He said that putting Coronato back with veterans Mikael Backlund<\/a> and Blake Coleman<\/a> is also an option given their built-in chemistry. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that Naz and Huby play well together, it\u2019s just about finding other combinations that we maybe haven\u2019t hit on yet,\u201d Huska said. \u201cWe know Huby and Kads go well together. It\u2019s not anything we\u2019re setting in stone. It\u2019s just us trying to find some different combinations that maybe we can go to at some point\u2026you always know you can go back to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Calgary Flames forward Nazem Kadri, fresh off a season where he scored a career-high 35 goals, offered an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[16159,64,63,117449,117452,117451,117453,117450,575,85],"class_list":["post-183594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-apple-news","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-calgary-flames-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-20","tag-joel-farabee-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8480797","tag-jonathan-huberdeau-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8476456","tag-matt-coronato-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8482679","tag-nazem-kadri-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8475172","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}