The Flames just got the update we've been waiting for...

The Calgary Flames have dealt with quite a bit of injury trouble already this season, but we finally have the updates we've been waiting for on players like Jonathan Huberdeau, Brendan Hoffman, and the most interesting man in the NHL, Devin Cooley. Flames are getting healthy, which may cause big lineup decisions. We're going to get to all that more in this video, but first I want to welcome you to Flames Digest. I'm Mark Griffith. If you're new around here and you love the Flames, make sure to subscribe so you can stay up to date on all the latest news, updates, reports, and rumors revolving around your Calgary Flames. We would love to welcome you to the Flames Digest family, and as promised, we'll get into some injury updates here. You might need to turn the volume up a bit. I'm not screaming at my laptop like I usually am. I'm at work, so if you need to turn up the volume, go for it. But the first one we're going to focus on Nice and simple from Pat Steinberg here is talking about Jonathan Huberto and there was I guess a bit of an update it still wasn't exactly you know the most concise thing or accurate thing but Steinberg said he's still working his way back but he's going to be back in the next number. of weeks which doesn't sound like you know back this week or in the next couple weeks it's in the next number of weeks i mean that could essentially be you know a hundred weeks couple years but it sounds like it's more so maybe before you know the end of the year maybe early next year that's what it sounds like but he has been skating a lot and i'll show another um update in just a second here but first let's go over kind of the timeline here so as we know it was way back in february When the hip surgery was announced, he got his hip resurfacing surgery. And, you know, missed the rest of last season. Into the summer, had a bit of a setback. I think it was Conroy who said that he, you know, suffered a bit of a setback. A lot of us were thinking, oh, maybe there's a chance he could start the year with the Flames. Didn't happen. Now we're into November. Still not there. But back on October 24th was the first time that he skated with teammates. But Ryan Huska says a return is still some way off, or at least that's what he said, you know, over a week ago now, a couple weeks. But as we know, as of today, well, actually it was earlier this week, Steinberg gives the update that, you know, You can expect a return in the And in the coming weeks is what he said on Barnburner. And then there was another article written that essentially said the same thing, but it sounds like it's sooner than later. But, you know, with Huberto, it raises some questions. With him back, will that, you know, make the offense better? If we take a look at, you know, his scoring last season, he only had 10 goals. And yeah, he didn't play the whole season. But, you know, looking at the shot map here, he can score from certain places. Like most players, he likes to shoot from in front. That's where his goals come from. But I don't know, with Huberto, So, it raises the question of, you know, whose place does he essentially take once he's back into the lineup? So, what we're watching for now is, you know, that he just progresses in those team practices. We'll wait for an official return date. That's definitely something to watch for. And then where Huberto fits once he's cleared. Do you, you know, make... Room for him by taking out a guy like Sunyaev or a guy like Castagne. You know, it's quite tough. Another thing, too, is Sam Hanzik is still injured. That's actually someone we still don't have an update on. And it's been about a month now that he's been out. Where the heck's Hanzik? Is he going to go back into the lineup? What's going on with him? What's going on with Huberto? It's a little bit tough. But we do know that as of this morning, once again coming from Pat Steinberg, Brennan Hoffman was on the ice for morning skate. He's missed the last four games with an upper body injury. Doesn't sound like he's quite ready to return, but still a good sign. And we'll talk about him next. But also Jonathan Huberto was there with a regular jersey. That's, I think, the update we've been waiting for the most, other than an actual return date. But he's out there with a regular jersey, which to me sounds like he will be ready to go soon. You know, if he was still just in the injury jersey, then you're a long way off. But in a regular jersey, oh my goodness, we could see Huberto, you know, literally within the next few games here, which would be interesting. But now let's focus on Offman, who has been hurt, you know, for a little while now. As it said there, missed the last four games. Doesn't quite sound like he's ready to go yet, but maybe he will be soon. We take a look at his stats. I mean, it's not like he contributes too much offensively, as you can see from the stats here. This is just because he has such a small sample size. All of the red, literally every single one of those being red, throw you off. Because if we take a look at him actually in the lineup, the Flames are 4-2 this year when Hoffman plays their 3, 5, and 1 without him. I think a big part of that is that he was not in those first five games of the season, obviously, or not all five games, I should say. But yeah, it's interesting that the Flames actually are maybe a little bit better with Offman in. But then raises that question once again, if he goes in... Who comes out? I think a lot of people want to see both Sunyaev and Castagne and even Stromgren at this point still in the lineup. That's someone who, I mean, is the obvious answer of who would go out. Want someone like Huberto? Or Hanzik or even Hoffman is back healthy. It would be Stromgren. I mean, Stromgren came in because Hoffman went out. Well, and we had Ben Jones for a bit as well. That's a little while back. So yeah, who do these guys go in for once they are healthy becomes the big question. Now, another thing that I spoke about it yesterday, obviously it did happen yesterday, but Still interesting to note is that Cooley was officially activated from the IR and Sergeyev was sent back down, which is great news. We love the tandem of Wolfie and Cooley. Cooley was excellent before the injury. Wolf has been great since then. And Cooley sounds, you know, like. Positive vibes, like he always is, the philosopher for the NHL. But he says, we're going to be fine. Dustin's going to be fine. I'm going to be fine. And so far, you know what? He's kind of right. Everyone is doing absolutely fine, which is great to hear. Now, he was excellent before the injury started, as we can see here. Start by start, yeah, the season was a little shaky to start, as it was for the Flames. And then he was absolutely lights out. Thank Before that injury against Edmonton, obviously gave up a goal in that first period before going out. But so amazing that he is back. you Sounds like he's ready to go. I'm not actually 100% sure if he will be the backup. I'm recording this a lot earlier than normal on a weekday. very But yeah, hopefully he will be ready to just instantly back up Wolf. I mean, he's got it. It's the only other goalie on the active roster right now. much. So glad to have him back. Sounds like we could have Huberto back soon and Offman as well. So positive updates all over as we head into tonight's game as the Flames are debuting those hometown remix jerseys for the first time. I mean, that's what debut means. But once again, playing against the Ducks, I swear we only play against Seattle and Anaheim this year. That's just what it feels like to me. I don't know if it feels that way to you, but it certainly feels that way to me. So this one, 7 p.m., the Flames are back at home, of course. That's why they're wearing the hometown remix jerseys. Should be a pretty fun one against Anaheim once again. Second time we're playing them at home, I believe. We got a win over in Anaheim as well earlier this year. But if we do get into the lineups for tonight, Wolfie gets the start, which is very interesting to note. No surprise there, but happy for him as well. He is on an absolute heater right now, as are the Ducks, to be quite honest. I'll get into more on them in a second. But the lines themselves. Absolutely no change from the last game as well. Essentially exactly how they should be. The only thing is I'd maybe like to see Gridden get moved around. How are you going to unlock him offensively aside from the power play when he's beside Pospisil and Strom? But that's actually not even all that bad of a line. Pospisil's been a monster lately, not necessarily in terms of offensive production, but he's been throwing the body around. Getting the energy out there, which is great to see. And again, happy Wolfie's getting the start, and he gets to debut his hometown remix pads as well, as you can see here from this Eric Francis tweet. So he'll be in the starters net. Well, this morning and when the game actually begins, again, that's what starter means. I feel like I'm just making the most obvious statements in this video, but super excited to see the first time seeing these whole remix uniforms and seeing Wolf as well, because he's been doing very well lately. As we know, if we look at his recent form, he's all in the greens. He's been doing great. The save percentage is up. The goals against is down exactly what you want to see. The only reason why that time on ice thing is up, just in case you're wondering, is because he came in relief against Edmonton, of course. Obviously, he only played 40 minutes in that game, but that's the only reason why that's up. Very happy he's been doing well. If we take a look, who's rested? He's actually been the busy goalie right now. It still has Sergeyev on there because he was technically with the Flames and played a game, of course, against Colorado, but Cooley seems like he's fresh and ready to go. Obviously, having a very good season. Wolfie ready as well, so should hopefully be all good. If we take a look at our all-time record against the Ducks, Flames versus Ducks, Unsurprisingly, we don't have the edge. We have 58 wins, 68 losses, and 7 ties. This year, we're 1-1, though, with those couple games not too long ago. And we, of course, won the last one 4-2. That was Dustin Wolfe's first win of the season, I believe, which was a great game from the Flames in Anaheim as well. And if we take a quick check on the standings as well here, we're... Technically in the playoff hunt, I mean, everyone is. We're so early in the season. But Anaheim, we're right there with them, essentially. They just have one more win than we do at this point. And that's all it takes. It's just two points. If we win in regulation, we have the exact same record. So it should be a very interesting one there. Anaheim, though, they've been on a heater. We kind of have been too in terms of special teams. As I pointed out, you know, kind of before every single game, our power play is doing ridiculously well. Our penalty kill been very, very good this season. Top 10 in the NHL. We definitely need to rely on them as well as the goaltending if we want to win this game. But Anaheim, alternatively, they are on. Fire on the power play right now. Second best power play in the league. Only behind Edmonton, of course. But it's Cutter Gauthier. He is just... Insane right now with the amount of goals he's scoring specifically on the power play. That'll be the key to the game for the Flames to try and win is shutting down that Ducks power play. They are insane. I think it's nine straight games with five goals or something. It's closing in on an NHL record. It's actually ridiculous what they're doing. And even last night, Edmonton, they score four goals and don't win. What's the Flames record? They're at, what, 61 straight wins when they score four goals? Absolutely nuts. But, yeah. That'll be the key right now. Anaheim's on fire, but they are tired after playing last night. So technically a scheduled win here for the Flames. We'll see how it actually does, of course, pan out. Now let's get into the comment of the day to wrap up this video, as we love to do here on the channel. It comes from yesterday's video, of course. And this is a great one here about kind of the tanking question or, you know, just more so on the vibes of the team. So Taron Booth here says, I think all the fans are loving this team. Turns out letting the rookies play is a thousand times more fun than watching a team struggle. to make the playoffs year after year In Conroy we trust over and over we're just getting the tank debate in the comment section of of this channel and it doesn't matter to me which side you lie on you want the team to win you want them to you know get a high draft pick I'm cool with whatever but no matter what this team's more fun to watch than you know watching Kind of the past few years of Flames hockey where it's a bunch of guys who aren't necessarily part of the future trying to make the playoffs and not make it. So definitely more exciting to see the rookies play. So glad Huska is allowing them to do that. Let's just hope it obviously continues for the remainder of the season. Do you trade away more vets to make more space? Do you not keep it together? Not too sure. Well, there's so many different variables here, but either way, it has been fun to watch. Thank you so much for watching this video. Please subscribe if you like what you saw here today and have a wonderful rest of your day.