Report: Ryan Huska is the favorite for Calgary Flames head coaching job

During the intermission of Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman is reporting that Ryan Huska is the favorite to be named the next head coach of the Calgary Flames following the departure of Darryl Sutter.

Friedman stated, “So the Calgary Flames are one of two teams right now without a head coach. The New York Rangers are the other. Nothing is done until it’s done, but the word is that Ryan Huska, who’s been an assistant coach for the Flames for the past five seasons, is the leading contender. But nothing is done until it’s done.”

Huska has served as an assistant coach with the Flames since 2018-19 and is well respected in the Flames system. Previously he spent time as head coach of the Adirondack Flames/Stockton Thunder, the Flames’ American Hockey League affiliates, where he posted a career record of 135-118-27. He helped develop Flames prospects, and while as an assistant with the Flames, he oversaw the penalty kill.

Prior to his AHL/NHL tenure, Huska served as the head coach of the Western Hockey League’s Kelowna Rockets, where he won the WHL Championship in 2008-09 after leading the Rockets to a 47-21-4 record. He then would lead the Rockets to back-to-back 50-win seasons in 2012-2013 and 2013-14.

As a player, Huska won three WHL Championships and three Memorial Cups with the Kamloops Blazers during their historic runs in 1992, 1994 and 1995. Huska is one of just a handful of players to win three Memorial Cups during his major junior career. He was drafted in the third round of the 1993 NHL Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks but spent the majority of his short playing career in the IHL with the Indianapolis Ice. He also had stints in the AHL with the Lowell Lock Monsters and Springfield Falcons.