Jonathan Huberdeau admits the truth after brutal season

The Florida Panthers sent shockwaves throughout the National Hockey League last July when they traded assistant captain Jonathan Huberdeau and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar to the Calgary Flames in exchange for gritty forward Matthew Tkachuk. 

It wouldn't be long before the Flames would lock up Huberdeau to a lengthy eight year contract extension worth $84 million, and they were understandably envisioning their newest forward continuing his offensive prowess that saw him eclipse the 100-point mark in 2021-22 with Florida. 

Needless to say, Huberdeau's first season with the Flames could not have gone worse. In the 79 games that he played in, Huberdeau only managed 55 points, and in doing so, set the new NHL record of the single biggest drop-off in production with 60. In fact, it was the first time in nearly 20 years that a drop-off that eclipsed 40 points from one season to the next had even occurred. And it certainly didn't help that Huberdeau publicly traded barbs with old-school bench boss Darryl Sutter throughout the year. 

In his seasons-ending media remarks this afternoon, Huberdeau gave his true thoughts on how his first season with the Flames went, which he admitted knowing would be an adjustment but had no idea just how much of one. 

“I knew it was going to be a change and adjustment," Huberdeau said. "But, of course, I didn’t think it was going to be this hard."

“I completely lost my swagger this year,” he continued. “You can just tell. You have no confidence in the way you play, the way you make your plays. It’s hard. You know you’re just trying to be out there and help your team to win and you can’t really do it.”

Huberdeau bounced all throughout the lineup this year, skating on three different lines while also moving from left to right wing. 

“It wasn’t working offensively,” Huberdeau said. “I think Darryl was trying to make it work and that’s why I kind of bounced around. It was that kind of year. It’s to find some fits. I played with (Backlund) mostly at the end of the year. It was going well, so I think I need to find a duo. And that’s what (Darryl) was trying to do.”

What about his relationship with Sutter moving forward? 

“Me and Darryl will figure it out together and try to fix some things,” Huberdeau said.