Jonathan Huberdeau was apart of a trade between the Calgary Flames and the Florida Panthers, which saw Matthew Tkachuk head to the Florida Panthers, the Flames got Jonathan Huberdeau, Defensman MacKenzie Weegar, prospect Cole Schwindt and a lottery protected 2025 first-round pick in the deal, and it also sent a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick the Panthers’ way.
Shortly after acquiring Huberdeau in the blockbuster 2022 trade with the Florida Panthers, the Flames signed him to an eight-year, $84 million extension to keep him in Calgary through 2031.
Along with the trade, the Florida Panthers announced that they signed Matthew Tkachuk to an eight-year contract set to run through the 2029-30 season. According to Elliotte Friedman, the deal has an average annual value of $9.5 million.
Tkachuk was coming off a career year in Calgary, as he played all 82 games and ranked eighth among NHL skaters with 104 points (42 goals, 62 assists) and was ninth in goals.
Florida lost a franchise great in Huberdeau, its career leader in games, assists and points at the time. Huberdeau, scored 115 points (30 goals, 85 assists) in his last season in Florida.
Jonathan Huberdeau’s production in Calgary.
Jonathan Huberdeau had a very rough first season in Calgary, he owns an awful record, the largest single-season drop-off in points between two seasons, with a 60-point gap between 2021-22 and 2022-23.
Jonathan Huberdeau put up 15 goals, and 55 points in 79 games in his debut season for the Flames, that is not good production, especially not for 10.5 million against the cap.
2023-2024 wasn’t much better for Huberdeau as he put up 12 goals and 52 points in 82 games.
To put into context his stats, in his last season in Florida, Huberdeau had 115 points. In two seasons in Calgary combined, he’s had 107 points, obviously not good, but there is some reason to feel optimistic that Jonathan Huberdeau can do better in the 2024-2025 season, once the calendar turned to 2024 Jonathan Huberdeau played much better, Natural Stat Trick is where these stats are from.
From Oct. 1 to Dec. 31: 4 goals, 12 assists, 16 points in 36 games, 50.69% xGF (5v5), 6.77% on-ice shooting percentage (5v5), 7.14% personal shooting percentage (5v5), 0.31 average game score
From Jan. 1 to Apr. 18: 8 goals, 28 assists, 36 points in 45 games, 51.46% xGF (5v5), 7.19% on-ice shooting percentage (5v5), 6.45% personal shooting percentage (5v5), 0.66 average game score.
Jonathan Huberdeau named worst contract in NHL
The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn ranked Jonathan Huberdeau’s massive contract with the Calgary Flames as the NHL’s worst contract.
Jonathan Huberdeau has the worst contract in hockey. You know it. I know it. He knows it. He’s making franchise forward money for seven more seasons despite scoring like a second-liner in back-to-back seasons. There’s no use belaboring the point further — the question is whether he can do anything to get back on track.
Final Thoughts.
Jonathan Huberdeau has failed so far for the Flames in multiple ways, his contract has been not good at all, and Matthew Tkachuk has been even better since going to the Florida Panthers and now has won the 2024 Stanley Cup.
The Calgary Flames are currently in a retooling/rebuild situation and part of it is because of Huberdeau, but the Forward still can bounce back, he’s got the talent to succeed, I personally think he’s worth a late round selection, depending how deep your league is, he’s gonna play on the Powerplay and was helped by Andrei Kuzmenko who was acquired in a trade last season.
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