The Calgary Flames notched a massive win of the season this past weekend has done little to take the heat off head coach Ryan Huska.
In fact, the market is currently pricing in the likelihood of Huska being the first coach to get the heave-ho this season.
The folks at BonusFinder have checked into the market, with the numbers showing that Huska is a +125 shot to go first, an implied probability of 44.4%.
The lines show the market is fairly certain that it’s only a matter of time before Huska gets the ax. Now, it’s worth pointing out that it would make sense for the Flames bench boss to go, given how poorly the team has played. Everyone knew that Calgary would struggle this season. But no one expected it to be this bad.
That’s why Huska might be the first coach to see his job evaporate this season.
After Huska, the market sees Todd McLellan of the Detroit Red Wings at +300. Detroit has missed the playoffs in each of the last 10 seasons and enters the year under interim general manager Shawn Horcoff, but the Red Wings have played better than expected, potentially giving McLellan a little more runway.
Flames May Have More Reason to Keep Ryan Huska Than Fire Him
Ryan Huska may be the betting favorite to become the NHL’s first coaching casualty, but the Calgary Flames have a compelling reason to resist that temptation: They are entering a rebuild, and changing coaches will not fix the roster.
Calgary’s poor start has been difficult to watch, and the team’s struggles have exceeded even the low expectations entering the season. Still, the Flames were never positioned to compete for a playoff spot. Their roster needs significant work, and the organization is increasingly focused on building for the future rather than squeezing a few extra wins out of the current group.
That makes Huska’s situation different from a coach overseeing an underperforming contender. Calgary does not need a quick turnaround to salvage its season. That wasn’t the plan to begin with the season. If there were some truly compelling reason to make such a massive move, the bottom line is that Huska should just run out the clock.
Rather than firing Huska in October, the Flames could let him finish the season and assess his future in the summer. If management believes he can guide the next phase of the rebuild, there is little reason to make a change now.
Firing Huska Would Do Little to Change Calgary’s Season
Even if Calgary decided to move on from Huska, what would realistically change? A new coach might provide a short-term emotional boost, but that would not address the roster’s underlying weaknesses or suddenly make the Flames competitive.
The club has struggled to generate consistent offense and has looked vulnerable defensively. Those problems cannot be pinned entirely on the coaching staff. The Flames need more talent, and the rebuilding process will take time regardless of who stands behind the bench.
There is also little value in hiring a replacement simply to oversee the same difficult season. If the Flames are committed to a teardown, it makes little sense to bring in a head coach to oversee the gradual decline of the team. The entire point of a coaching change would be to kickstart the team, not oversee its eventual fire sale.
The exception would be if management genuinely believed the roster could avoid a full rebuild and return to contention quickly. In that scenario, a coaching change might be part of a broader effort to reverse course.
But unless Calgary has a realistic alternative, firing Huska now would amount to changing the face of the problem rather than addressing it. The Flames would be better served by letting the season unfold, evaluating the coaching staff alongside the roster and making a deliberate decision in the offseason.
Flames’ Ryan Huska Is Suddenly on the Hot Seat, Odds Suggest