Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Can Jonathan Huberdeau EVER Get Back To His Old Self?? | BB Clips

Episode Date: September 3, 2026

Bobby, Pinder and Rhett react to the news that Jonathan Huberdeau has suffered a minor setback in his recovery from offseason hip surgery, adding another wrinkle to what is already a massive season ahead for the Calgary Flames forward. While the setback itself doesn’t sound overly concerning, it once again opens the door to a much bigger conversation about Huberdeau, his health and his long-term future in Calgary. The guys discuss what the Flames should expect from Huberdeau this season, whether his hip could continue to be an issue moving forward, and look back at other NHL players who have dealt with serious hip injuries and how they performed afterwards. With Huberdeau still carrying one of the biggest contracts in hockey, can he get healthy and rediscover his game, or are the Flames going to have some difficult decisions to make about his future?Video Link: https://youtu.be/--qVjBl2BtInhl #nhlshorts #nhlplayoffs #nhlpredictions #nhlhockey #nhlpicks #stanleycup #stanleycupfinal #calgaryflames CHECK OUT OUR STUFF ⬇️BARN BURNER MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/shirts/FlamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9&si=jo8iNGxT4ImhS2Y8📲 Follow us:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fnbarnburner/X (Twitter): https://x.com/barnburnerfn?lang=en🎧 Listen on:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/barn-burner-boomer-pinder-with-rhett-warrener/id1648562889Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Mc6Qd5U22R2zbMlQ7RxIiProducer: Jack Haverstock Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here's Connie yesterday on QR 77, the new rights holders for the flames with Jock Wilson. This has got to be really exciting for that station. They've been a stance rights holder forever. They've not had NHL rights in, you know, basically your lifetime, Bobby. And for their staff, a chance to chat with the general manager yesterday. We had a bit of a bomb show. Yeah, you know what? He's really doing well in the gym.

I think this is a major surgery. so he has had a little bit of a setback maybe two weeks ago with the skating, but we think, you know, with that, we just want to make sure we do the right thing for him. And if it is to take a little bit more time and have him 100% feeling good about the hip, you know, that's what we're going to do. But, you know, in the gym, everything else is real positive. It's just we want to make sure when he's on the ice and taking that physical contact that he's ready. But it's coming.

and, you know, it's still on his schedule. We know we're not going to rush him into something, but, you know, we feel at the beginning of the year, he's going to be pretty close. It's just when we're not 100% sure yet. Okay. That's Jonathan Hubertoe talking about. Hell is he now a politician.

He doesn't even give a real answer or yes and no and maybe. Well, I think what we know is, well, and look, you've got to play the game of it as GM. You're not going to be like, here's our exact timeline. Here's our concerns. Yeah, he'll be playing. You've got to play cards a bit. You got to play cards a bit. Well, that surgery is so major that they probably truly do not know when exactly he's going to be 100% healthy.

Like, it could be a guy one or it could be three weeks from game one or it could be a month after game one. Like, we just don't know. They used the word setback, which means they had a timeline and now it's changed. Like, that's fact, right? That's what a setback is. It is a rather simple surgery for normal humans, but to go and play a contact sport, like playing in the NHL, that's a different beast. And it was kind of the same thing when we heard about the Jack Eichael surgery. They tried to tell me I could do a resurfacing or a replacement on my shoulder when I was playing and then go and play.

And I said, whoa, this has this happened a lot? Yeah. No, never. You're going to be our test balloon, retro. No. That was the case for Jack Eichael, though. That worked out pretty well for him. I ended up winning a Stanley guy.

That surgery was a little more science behind that. That surgery was very simple, much easier than the alternative, the alternatives. Rather than fuse vertebrae together. you put a synthetic disc in there, which removes stress off the nerves, blah, blah, blah. I don't try to do that. A bunch of rugby players, MMA players went through it. Exactly. And they came back and had good careers.

And Bobby did this. I think I've sent Jack the graphic. There's been some players in the NHL that have gone through hip resurfacing. At the same age. So here is... Hubidose 33. This is great work from the NHL network. Thanks, guys.

Eddie, my boy. So Baxter at age 34 played 47 more games. Jovanowski at 36, 37 more games. games. Carl Hagelin never played again. Ryan Kessler never played again. He ain't going to play again. Patty Kane has played a tonne since. John Klingberg's in there too. So the two most recent examples, both players have come back and have been able to reestablish themselves in the NHL. Right. But with Patrick Kane, he's one of the greatest offensive players of his generation. He's got one of the best set of hands, playmaking,

all that. You know, Huberto doesn't have that right now based off of his last four years in Calgary. So that's... But it doesn't have to the whole playmaking piece is kind of supposed to be his bread and butter. Yeah. But he doesn't have to be himself is the question.

Because look, like there isn't like, oh, these types of players survive it while these don't. Like, Backstrom's a high skill distributor. Didn't work. And again, this is the age where even guys without hip resurfacing just disappear from the league, right? You were gone before this age. And we've taken cheap shots, which we do all the time,

different guys. And mostly it's supposed to be funny. Mostly. At what point do you as an individual, like I did? I'm like, no effing way. I'm not going to be a guinea pig and put the rest of my days on this earth at risk. Like that, there has to be some consideration. There does.

I don't think this surgery is that scary for that. But I think what it does mean is when I am getting into contact, I better know I'm ready, not think I'm ready. So maybe it's Christmas, maybe it's October 15. We don't know. I had heard whispers last year, and we've said it consistently for six months. we don't know when he's back. They're hopeful he'll be back in the camp, but until you've got new hips,

you don't know how the new hips go. And the flames are in a position right now where they don't necessarily need to have him in the lineup night one. Like I said, I would rather have them wait a couple months and make sure that he is like truly 100% ready and able to come back

and start to rebuild that value and kind of rebuild his confidence. At least try. Yeah. I mean, he's a guy that is a top nine player. He's not what he was, but he's still a guy that is theoretically there to create offense.

He's going to be on a power play unit. I have no one. Just argue both sides. Jack, if we went back and played that, did he just argue that it's easy, it's fine, he should be able to come back and then he. Let me just finish the point here, because I'm not sure that I've finished my point.

I would rather see you preach ultra patience and get those top nine reps for Hansickson and Zeri on the left side. Absolutely. Like I just, I would preach, I would preach stay in the stands forever. If I've said this, last week.

If you're running the organization, unless you're very hopeful that he can come back and reestablish some sort of return value. Yeah. Why am I putting him on instead of a kid? Well, yeah, I'm totally with you, especially like, look, if you're a contender, like we got to squeeze the last drop out of here, you're not. This is a lost year in terms of the standards.

He's not going to be there. It's the same as Bagel. He ain't going to be there when you guys, no, position to compete. But the problem is, is that. you can want that as Craig Conner, but if I'm Jonathan Hubert, I'm like, I'm ready to go, I'm healthy. Like, I have to get back in.

Now it's like, okay, well, we can't just roba island you yet. You've got a half decade left on your deal. You can still sit them. I don't care if you're healthy. You can. If I'm cutthroat and running the organization, the way it should be,

it's hard because you don't want to be a place where nobody wants to go. It's slippery there. You also, like, you desperately need to rebuild his value. No, you don't. I think... You need such as a long shot.

No, but hear me out. No, just hear me out. In three or four years from now, when he has three and two years left on his contract, that's when this team is going to start to get out of this rebuild and start to really flourish. And they're going to have guys like Ethan Wittenbach, Cole Reshny, Zane Perrek,

all these types of players are going to need new contracts. You need to get that money off the books within the next three or four years. Even if you eat some of it, like if you eat half of it and you get back $5 million in cash base, I think that's important. It doesn't hurt, but I mean, I don't think you or us or anyone knows

what the cap's going to be in three, four years. It might be so high that $5,000, $10 million is whatever. $140 million, we're missing five, whatever. But with all the young players that are coming up here and you're assuming they'll make it. We're seeing a lot of these guys come out entry level make a ton of money. Who are they committed?

You need to have as much cap-based people. Who are the next size? Just wait, though. Who are the young guys you speak of? They're making a ton of money. Zane Porek potentially, Ethan Winnbach potentially, Cole Reschney, whoever they draft in this upcoming draft, Carson, Carl. No, no, no, no, these are potential things.

They are. That's what I'm talking. This is a hypothetical. You have to base it on something that's happened. So what are you basing? Who are you comparing Zane Porek and Wittenbach to? Well, you don't have the comparison right now. But if they, you know, hit their ceilings and they hit the projections that you have

for them, they're not, they come out of $20 million guys. But you never know. What if Wittenbach in his contract year is a point per game player? What if Reshenbock is a 60-point guy? playing center. What if Perrek is a 70 point defense and deal with the problem? You just don't know. These are best case scenarios. They are. But I think you need to. You're talking about it like it's a necessity.

And I think not, I don't like it's a necessity. I just, I, so hear me out. I think it's something that they should seriously consider. The most likely outcome is that they're not in a cap pinch in three or four years, even with Jonathan Hubert. And the other likely outcome is that its hips are bad now. In three, four years, he might be a prime candidate for LTI. That's my problem. You don't have to worry about playing the piss out of to hear about it would be helpful if he looked like a top nine NHA that could contribute.

And that's all I'm helpful if the cap grows, but to state it is a necessity is just wrong. But I'm not saying it's a necessity. You're like, they have to build up value. That's stating I said, I think they do need to them to.

Yeah, I want them to. Yeah. I want them to get back to that. My opinion is different. My opinion is different. I'd rather find out if Wittonbach is good. And I'm not going to find out

if I'm trying to build up Huberdo. And if I have to pay for a ticket to go watch a guy. Who'd you rather see? Right? But it's not, it's not just Huberto versus Whiton I mean, you can move out as Shering Goet, which you can move out a fairbie. You can move out some of these guys.

How are you building up with, Hubert O's stock? Who are you playing them with? Who are you playing them with? You have to play them at the top of the lineup. Why am I got a kid like Wittenbach then pushed down the line back? And that's if Wittenbach can even keep up. We don't need to go to the prospects yet because they already have three really intriguing young players that you want to see develop on the left side that shouldn't

be on the fourth line. And that's Gridden and that's Hansick and that's Zeri. Like, I don't want this guy in the lineup until his eight. agent's calling me to Rett's point. But I also don't think you can just put a guy and I used to five years left on his deal. Because I just think when you're in free agency in the summer, that guy's

agent represents 30 other guys. He's like, yeah, he effed me on Huberto. I'm not, like there's middle ground, right? You have to give him the chance. Peter, speak to me. They call me the, because I'm going to punch someone in the head. What are you talking about?

Conner didn't sign that stupid deal. Correct. So how is the agent yelling at Conroy. The agent's not bad about it with the deal. The agent's, here's how Connie treated. How did Conry screw you? Well, you're not putting up points. You're not living up to your end of the bargain.

No, you're talking about. It's a pretty easy argument. You're talking about not playing them again. You're saying shut them out right now. Career is over. Sure. That's going to piss off an agent. I don't care.

Okay. Well, but that has repercussions. It's not to be all end all. But all I'm saying is that that might not be the vibe. The team wants when we're in the lost couple years anyway. How about somebody call the agent and say, Hey, agent, Mr. Agent Man. Is there a song that sounds like that?

Yeah, Super Agent Man. Call the agent. Tell him, call the player and say, hey, guess what? It's real hard to go to bat for you right now when you're shitty. If you play better, I can maybe call and maybe do. Now, we're making it sound like he's not even an NHL player. He's still an NHL player. He's still kind of a middle six caliber player.

He was unnoticeable last year. Like I'm not say he was good last. He's a peripheral middle six winger that makes twice as much money as he should. If he was making 5.25, it wouldn't be a problem. If he was on pace to be annoying, but it wouldn't be a problem. If he was on pace to put up 15 or 20 points next year, then yeah, I think this conversation might be legit. But he's still an NHL player. Walk us through his totals last year.

I'll put you on the spot. Yeah, 25 points and 50 games. He was on pace for half a point per game last year, which would be close to career lows. And you look at his time in Calgary, it's 55, 52, 62, and on pace for 41 last year. So still a middle six winger. Yeah, it's not sexy. It's not sexy once, however. Shitty team, if that's your middle six, you're screwed.

You can't help to catch him and end his career right at this point. If you go, well, it's not realistic. It's just not going to happen. So the conversation you just had would pretend to be the agent where you're conning, you're talking to the agent. You're saying he's playing poorly. He's put me in a bad spot. You have to allow him to fail and then you can shut him down.

I think that's probably, it's minutiae. But to shut him down now and not even let him try with new hips, I think that's, why not just put them out there and see what it looks like? If it sucks, yeah, we got to prioritize kids. You know what you guys are? You're like the kids trying out for teams nowadays. It's patty cakes.

We're soft. Paddy cake, patty cake, bake, bakers, man. Tough enough. Well, but there's a serious chance that he does not come back from this injury. I mean, we looked at the list of players before that. The thing that I have a big concern about is his skating. He's 33. Yeah, and he's never been a good skater.

He's always had to rely on his brain. in his hands and his hands and his playmaking are starting to go. Like they're almost to the point where it's non-existent. Now you have him coming off the hip surgery. Maybe he's not even as good as skaters he was in the past. That's a lot of hockey games. That's concerning. It is.

He's going to hit a thousand, I think, unless you shut him out. I don't think it's just, you can't just shut him down for the rest of it. You don't know what you're talking about. You can do whatever you want. I run the team. I'll do what I want. Thank you very much.

You're okay to come in here and boss me around and take the 10 and a half, but now you're going to tell me how I, why don't we're just hand it over to the guys. You guys in the room run this shit. You make you good point. Connie didn't sign this deal. It's not like this is something he has to salvage to save face. No, not at all.

But it is, you want to see if it looks any different. I want him to get a thousand. Is it better? Is it worse? Is it the same? I'm expecting it to be the same. I think there's a very low risk of him never playing. And you said it's a serious concern.

I think it's an incredibly minor one. And honestly, the best case scenario would be if this was a much more challenging surgery because then you could just park it on LTIR and these cap worries you have for three, four years, which may or may not be imaginary. They can't be a problem. I think there's a higher percentage. What's your percentage that he doesn't play again? I think he'll play again, but like get

back to being the player he was before the injury. I'm saying. I'm talking to like in Calgary, that 50 point guy. I'm telling you. That's not the question. I'm asking. I'm asking you what percentage out of 100 do you think he won't play at all? Less than five. One. Not true?

He'll play again. it just might not be very good. Yeah, well, and he hasn't really been very good. I mean, he's soft. He's huge, but you don't see it. He's invisible. He's a half point per game player that doesn't defend particularly well who is supposed to be creating offense,

and he isn't really doing that. But maybe it was the hip. Well, that's why you have to let him try it. Well, in his year-end press conference, they'd ask, how long has this hip injury, you know, been making you play at this level? And he had joked and said, oh, it's been happening for three years.

He'd kind of laughed, and everyone laughed, and they'd know what's going to say. I need to address this sooner if that's the case. If that's the case, exactly. But this actually might have been hurting him the last three years. We don't really know. It's also like Rett could probably speak to this. The injury is not binary.

Like have or not, there'd be degrees of it. Right. It keeps getting worse and worse and worse. And finally you reach a threshold. We're like, okay, we got to address this. Keena comes in and says, you're a harsh shit. We're not going to play anymore. Is that your shoulders or?

Yep. That's what I'm saying. Sorry. It happens. It does. But we'll have to see him suck before that happens, is my guess. Yeah. is fine. He's been close to that.

Yeah, especially last year. Last year was tough to watch. And I just hate him in this lineup because I want to see what a last chance to stay in the NHL Maxim Simplikov can do on the left side. I want to see Zeri get a chance to be a good winger with talent around him. I want to see Hansik on a back line. I want to see Gridden up top with Frost and Coronado. I don't want, he would own any of those lines. And he certainly isn't a fourth line left winger. No. Is he part of the culture. The way you hear people talk about, I have no idea.

Maybe he's awesome. I find it hard to believe, but I continue to hear that that is the case. And whether that's just public facing polite stuff or not, I don't know. And he's wearing a letter. Teammates have nothing but great things to say about on. The coaching staff has nothing great to say about it. I don't put any stock into public comments from. Yeah, exactly.

So the answer is we don't know because we're not in the room. We don't know we're not in the room. He might be the nice guy ever that's super positive, but when a game gets tough guys look down the bench, be like, well, that guy's not very going to cross the finish line. Or maybe it's like, man, I feel this guy works so hard. I see him going, his bodies quit on him. I feel

so bad for him. Like, we don't know. We're not there. All can be true. Yeah. Now, the thing with the lineup, though, is that you could end up moving a guy like Farabee to open up. I don't know what I have. For the Yuffalo. Like, it doesn't necessarily have a human. They still have two and he's the guy in the way. Like, maybe they think he's going to pop. Well, then move someone else.

Yeah, I mean, no, no, no. I mean pop and then move them for even more. Yeah. Yeah. I think there's a lot of that goal. I think they like what they saw there. Like to me, they still wanted, when you would take a second for Zeri, your hierarchy in the whiteboards and the management team is like, he's been passed by a lot of guys and there's more guys coming that will pass him and we need to open up another spot. Because if it's opening day today, I don't know that Pospicils in the lineup and Fodor was healthy,

I don't want him in the lineup. There's just too many wingers. There's too many wingers. Like, I don't think Marty Pospisle's a good center. No, I think he's best on the wing. I think Connor's got a better chance of success on the wing that is center ice. an easier position to play and he doesn't have as much responsibility. He can go be creative and offensive and use his skill rather than worry about,

ah, I got to come back and help the D here. Like, those are guys that want on the wing. And so what you're left with is you have three NHL centers and way too many wingers still with Hubert O.O. And I look at Farabee and Sharon Govich. Like, Klavka's not on. But Koppas is not going to play if he, if he, yeah, as a winger. Move Farabee.

Why do it. He's got two years left on his deal. maybe eat a little bit of salary if you have to. And if it's diet Coleman, what does that mean? Is he worth a third? Maybe. You'd be okay with that probably. But it opens up that spot.

Yeah. Like I still think they need to move over a winger and I think they will this year. Ideally, it would be Sharon Govich, in my opinion. If you could somehow move off of him without eating money, that would be ideal. And with the cap going up the way it is, like maybe there's a team out there that would take a chance on. Okay, so go play GM for another team. Is it still ideal to get Sharon Govich or your eyeball on someone else? probably I'd be eyeballing Farabee

Farabies a better too Or if you see something from Zary in the first half Yeah okay, pounce You wanted the second here's a second plus Yeah I think he's gonna be But you're not touching on Hubertoe with a 10-foot pole No if you're a GM, not even close Married to him

Yeah Just if he's going to when does he go on LTAR Seems to be my best guess of how this ends Is it three years? It was in two years I mean the track record The list that we just showed I mean that's it's ugly Oh he's always

Yeah And he's 33 he's the same age as the guys on that list Yeah Thank you.