WHL alumnus Huska named newest head coach of Calgary Flames – Kamloops Blazers
On Monday morning, the Calgary Flames announced that assistant coach Ryan Huska had been promoted to become the team’s newest head coach for the upcoming season.
So well-deserved ?
The #Flames have named Ryan Huska head coach!
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) June 12, 2023
Huska, who spent the last five seasons as an assistant coach for the Flames, has a rich history in the WHL that includes a catalogue littered with WHL Championships and Memorial Cup triumphs — both as a player and coach.
A product of Cranbrook, B.C., Huska first came to the WHL scene during the 1991-92 season as a member of the Kamloops Blazers. During his four-season tenure with the Blazers, Huska would share the ice with soon-to-be NHL regulars Scott Niedermayer, Mark Recchi, Darcy Tucker, and Shane Doan, along with Flames alumni and Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, Jarome Iginla.
All of whom were key pieces that he credits for helping shape his path to becoming a head coach in the NHL.
“Right from my time in junior hockey as a player, the guys that I learned how to play the game from are really important to me. The guys I started to work with as I moved my way on are all important to me and people that I continue to use today,” Huska said to local media on Monday.
Having spent his entire junior career apart of a world-class roster in Kamloops, Huska soon filled his trophy case with a collection of WHL Championships and Memorial Cups. Three of each to be precise.
Huska would capture both trophies in 1992, 1994, and 1995 before graduating from the League.
? @NHLFlames ? pic.twitter.com/AhLSs1IfIf
— Kamloops Blazers (@blazerhockey) June 12, 2023
Following a brief stint of professional hockey, Huska would swap his stick and skates for a tie and dress shoes when he became an assistant coach for the Kelowna Rockets during the 2002-03 season. Huska was then be promoted to head coach for the Rockets in 2007— a role he would remain in until 2014.
We’ve dug up some gems of the new @NHLFlames head coach, Ryan Huska, during his time with the Rockets.
He spent 12 seasons with the Rockets between 2002 and 2014, helping Kelowna capture the 2004 Memorial Cup and WHL titles in 2003, 2005 and 2009. pic.twitter.com/eJsxsiO5JR
— Kelowna Rockets (@Kelowna_Rockets) June 12, 2023
Huska’s championship-winning pedigree also translated from a player to a coach with ease.
In his first season manning the Rockets bench, Huska would capture his fourth WHL Championship.
His list of junior hockey accolades wouldn’t cease either.
A fourth Memorial Cup would come in 2004 when the Rockets won as tournament hosts, while two more WHL Championships were added to his already bursting portfolio in 2005 and 2009.
With his recent promotion to Flames head coach, Huska experienced a full circle moment that stemmed from his time in Kelowna.
During his second season as the bench boss for the Rockets, Huska coached forever-tenured Flames skater and fellow WHL alumnus, Mikael Backlund in 2008-09. Now, with another head coaching gig in hand, Huska will lead the Flames with Backlund at the forefront.
Huska’s outline as to how he expects his team to play also echoes a style of coaching which earned the Rockets two WHL Championships and Memorial Cup.
“I’m a believer of consistency and I’m a believer of process. This team is going to play hard for each other, this team is going to do things the right way,” Huska said.
“You have to create something where the players want to be. They have to be pushed on a daily basis, and then eventually it’s them taking over. You want them to have fun but they have to have a purpose.”
And while Huska has come a long way from his days as a junior hockey player, there remains lessons he’s learned early on that he continues to follow today.
“I was told at a young age [that] you have two eyes and two ears for a reason and for my coaching career I’ve remembered that.”
The next steps for Huska and Flames management will be who to select in the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville, Tenn. Ahead of the Draft, which is scheduled for June 28-29, the WHL has 54 players named to the NHL Central Scouting Final Rankings.