Flames, Ryan Huska push net-front game to spark offence

At Calgary Flames training camp, head coach Ryan Huska is making it clear that effort alone will not be enough this season. After finishing at the bottom of the NHL in goals per game last year, he wants the team’s blue-collar identity to finally show up on the scoreboard.

Work ethic established, scoring still lagging

Since Huska stepped behind the bench three years ago, the Flames have earned a reputation as a team that rarely gets outworked. That compete level has not translated into offence, however. Calgary averaged 2.54 goals per game last season, the lowest mark in the league, and ranks among the bottom three teams in total goals over the past three years.

The challenge has grown with the departure of two of their most reliable finishers, Nazem Kadri and Blake Coleman, along with offensive defencemen MacKenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson. Around the league, expectations are that the Flames will again struggle to score, but Huska is pushing back against the idea that a weak attack is simply part of who they are.

Shoot more, get greasier around the crease

Huska has zeroed in on what he calls an offensive stubborn streak: players turning down open looks to force a pass, and not driving the net with enough conviction. His message in camp has been straightforward — when a shot is available, take it, and then go straight to the blue paint instead of looping away on the rush.

He recalls that under former head coach Bob Hartley, every drill finished with players stopping at the front of the crease. Over time, he has seen too many forwards standing nearby, outside the goalie’s sightlines, hoping for a lucky tip rather than actively disrupting. The staff wants true screens, sticks planted in traffic and players willing to absorb cross-checks to bother opposing goaltenders.

Some, like big winger Adam Klapka, already go there naturally. Others, including young skill forwards Connor Zary, Matt Coronato and Ryan Strome, are being pushed to park themselves directly in front of the goalie when the play calls for it and to build new, more demanding habits. Huska summed it up simply: “You want to score goals, you’ve got to go there.”

Young forwards and blue line tasked with creating offence

General manager Craig Conroy has acknowledged that Calgary does not have star finishers on the level of Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, Michael Misa or Tyler Toffoli. As a result, he expects the team’s mobile defence corps to shoulder more of the creative load from the back end, even after losing Weegar and Andersson.

Up front, the Flames are counting on opportunity and ice time for Matt Coronato, Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee and prospect Matvei Gridin. The hope is that with expanded roles and power-play minutes, several of them can surpass the 20-goal range many project and help pull Calgary out of the league’s offensive basement.

No one inside the organization is banking on a one-year leap up the scoring list like San Jose’s recent jump from 32nd to 17th. Instead, the focus is on incremental gains through small, repeatable details — more pucks on net, heavier net-front presence and a willingness to embrace discomfort — as the Flames try to turn a well-earned reputation for hard work into tangible offensive growth.