Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - How Much Longer Does Ryan Huska Have In Calgary?? | AB Clips

Episode Date: October 11, 2026

Gould and Bobby dive into the growing pressure surrounding Calgary Flames head coach Ryan Huska following the team's miserable 0-5 start to the season. With the schedule showing no signs of getting any easier, how much longer can Huska survive behind the bench? If the Flames keep losing and this nightmare start turns into an 0-10 record, could Calgary actually pull the trigger and fire its head coach? Or is this roster simply so bad that changing coaches wouldn't make a damn difference? The guys debate whether Huska deserves the blame, how much patience the organization should have during a rebuild and whether his job could be in serious jeopardy if the losses continue to pile up. At what point does a terrible start become impossible to ignore? Video Link: https://youtu.be/1TzpzClTTYs#nhl #nhlshorts #nhlplayoffs #nhlpredictions #nhlhockey #nhlpicks #stanleycup #stanleycupfinal #calgaryflames Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I was just thinking today, I'm like, like, what's the biggest challenge Ryan Huska has to face right now? And just basically for this entire season. And for me, it's, it's keeping the morale up. Like, like, this is going to be such a long miserable year for those players inside that locker room. And I was like, like, how are the flames going to be able to keep Zane Perrek happy and that Big Gridden happy and that Coronado happy? And it's going to come on Huska and the coaching staff. It's also going to come on that leadership and some of the big personalities in that dressing room. And I was like, well, do they have those big personalities now that Cadry's gone and Weger's gone and Anderson's gone and Lomberg's gone. And that's why I was thinking like, oh, it might have been smart to maybe like try to keep Longberg around.

Just strictly for locker room vibes. I'm not talking about anything on the ice. Yeah. I mean, I almost wonder, Bobby, like if they keep losing to this degree, I don't think Ryan Huska survives it. and I'm not even going to try to relitigate the fire huska debate in the chat because I don't really think it's all that productive. I don't think that there's really a whole lot that we can add to that conversation just as from where we're sitting. But I almost wonder if there's a certain point where maybe they figure that maybe a coach, a Lomburg-ish coach is the way to go, you know, based on what you're saying. You know, just a guy who brings a little bit more swagger because that, that I could see as maybe a direction they want to go.

Because, because, I mean, when Ryan Huska talks, he kind of talks like I do. And, you know, I'm sitting here. And I am not capable of firing anybody up. I sit here and I, I'm very dry. I'm very verbose. You know, I, I'm not a hockey coach. and I just do wonder if there's maybe a point where they figure, okay, we want to get a little bit more passion. Not necessarily, passion is the wrong word.

I don't want to imprint any lack of passion upon it. But I just wonder if maybe there's a point where they say, we just want to get a little bit more energy at the head of the table. I don't know. Find your Margie St. Louis kind of thing. Yeah. It's, again, it is incredibly presumptuous of me to put anything that I say as an indictment on a coaching staff because I'm not in the room. But by the same

token, there has to be a certain point where this number of losses becomes unacceptable. Even if we as fans say this is what we want, from the standpoint of running a competent NHL franchise, if you start a season 0 in 10, somebody's got to go.

Yeah, I see what you mean, but I mean, this is a rebuilding year. Like, Craig Conroy designed this team to lose. Like, make no mistake about it. This is not, this is not the last three years where there were some veterans around that could keep them above water. This is a full-on tank San Jose sharks from three years ago, the ducks from a few years ago, the Canadians from a few years ago.

This is a full-on tank job. And it might not be fair to put it all at the feet of Ryan Huska, especially when his goalies aren't making any saves right now. All of those teams fired their coaches during the season? Or did they wait to laugh at? Well, while they were tanking, I mean, at a certain point. I don't think Huska is going to, he's not going to last this contract. but like to say to fire him after 10 games if they end up losing 10 games like I don't know

just because they are rebuilding and the team is designed to lose I just don't know if that's the right time to do it but I agree like I'm not and I'm not I'm certainly not coming out here saying they should do it it's just like I'm really wondering if this continues to a certain degree when it even becomes a conversation like uh the sharks fired David Quinn uh after the season in which they finished last and drafted Celebrini um and I and they were they won 19 games that year. And that's very attainable for this Flames team. Oh, it is.

And now Quinn was a guy they brought in from the outside. He was obviously with the Rangers. He wasn't with the Flames near, or he wasn't with that team nearly as long as Huska has been with the Flames organization. It's over a decade now at this point. But I just, I just think when was the last time we saw a team start with eight straight losses, nine straight loss?

coaches just these types of stretches are really hard for coaches to survive. And it's, I mean, it's like the track record of the NHL would indicate that for sure. But like, I know for me, if I want to fire Ryan Huska, it's going to be because that the young players aren't getting any better.

Like this whole season is about this young core on this team. And if we get to the end of the year, and Ryan Huska is still the coach, we have to ask ourselves, did the young players get better? And if they took a significant step, then I think there's, there's a legitimate argument to keep them on board despite all the losses this year.

But if the young players take steps back and Craig Conroy's not seeing any improvement in those guys, that's when I think you maybe look at making a coaching decision because, like I said, like this, the record is not Ryan Huska's fault. Now, he's making small decisions about like the usage of some of the young players so far this year that are kind of confounding. But the actual wins and losses, in my opinion, are not on him. I think it's just, it's a terrible roster. and the goalies haven't stepped up whatsoever so far. No matter what coach you bring on in this team,

they're not changing the results in terms of wins and losses. One way or another, we're getting to a point where it's going to be a tipping point on a decision because this is Huska's penultimate year on his current contract. So when we get to this coming summer, there's going to be a decision that's going to be made one way or another. And no coach likes coaching into the last year

their deal with out in extension. So interesting stuff about the future of the Flames and their head coach because we just don't know. It is a very unusual situation that we find ourselves in. You and me and everybody watching this have never been in a situation where you've watched the Calgary Flames lose their first five games the season in regulation. It's never happened before. One last single last thing. It's just the whole Huska thing. Please.

the one thing I could see maybe happening, if things get out of hand here, like you said, it's 0 and 10 or, you know, they're 1 in 15 or something, does that piss off Murray Edwards to the point where he's like, this is embarrassing, like I can't handle this anymore? Does he step in and say enough is enough, we have to let this guy go? Like that, I could see an emotional ownership group

maybe stepping in and doing something like that. I don't know if Craig Conroy would do it, but I could see maybe like Maloney and the owners being like, enough is enough, we got to make a move here. I mean, quite frankly, if they start 0 and 10 or 1 in 15, I would probably do it. Like at a certain point, it's like, dude, you're good? So anyway, we're getting ahead of ourselves. We're tripling their current record.

I mean, it is my fault that we got ahead of ourselves. But it is really interesting. It is uncharted territory, Bobby. I mean, I've been doing this show for, I guess this is my fourth season now doing this show, as crazy as that is. Did it part of the 22, 23 season? No, part of the 23, 24 season and then, you know, the last two in full and then now this season. And I just think back, we did, I did the whole 24, 25 season and just remembering how that team was so much better than we expected they would be. last year they got off to a terrible start they kind of resuscitate themselves ever so slightly but even that start wasn't as bad as this one and they were I hate to apply the word competent to last year's team but it felt like they had a degree of competence that this one doesn't right like this one this one is like the bottoms falling out this is like Baba Hartley last year uh sort of you know just sort of watching the tires completely fall off the tractor

So it's it's going to be fascinating to watch and I'm here for it. I guess that is our, sorry? Well, I was just going to say like a lot of these guys like say they get down one or two goals and they go into locker in the second year mission. Like if you're if you're on this team right now and you just look around the locker room, you're like there's no way we're coming back and winning this game. Like our go to guys right now are like Michael Backland, a 20 year old Matt Bay Gridden, you know, Morgan Frost who is clearly a third line center in this league. Whereas in years past with this group, it's been, okay, well, there's Nazim Cadbury who could be a 70-point guy and Stanley Cup champion. There's McKenzie Weiger. You know, there's Blake Coleman.

There's Raspis Anderson. You know, Huberto when he had his good year in 24, 25. Like, there were legitimately good players on this roster. Like, those days are now gone. Yeah. I think that just crushes this team's confidence and any sort of ability to think that they can come back in these games and win because the guys just aren't there anymore. And that's a good thing. Craig Conroy designed this team.

on purpose to be like this. He sure did. DeMa Jilkin and Landon DuPont are the lights at the end of the tunnel in any event.