The guy plays with Milan Lucic, the f*** do people expect. And Kadri and him don't mesh at all IMO. He needs to playing with proper triggermen like Toffoli, Lindholm or Mangiapane.
The Toffoli -Lindholm -Huberdeau line was just as unproductive. Not sure I'd want to bring them back together.
Do what works, he played with two speed transition guys in Florida, give him Zary (C) and Pelletier and let him do what he does (will literally never happen unless one of us coached the Flames).
Kadri, at least last year, was actually good in transition. He was ranked 15th in the NHL's most dangerous rush forwards and 9th in controlled zone entries. Above the majority of Huberdeau's teammates in Florida.
Which forwards are the most dominant at transporting the puck?
theathletic.com
Honestly think Lucic is part of the problem. More often than not, offense seems to die when he touches the puck.
And I don't know if it makes that big of a difference but he is also playing RW and Lucic is playing left. Like come on, you're setting your most prized player up for complete failure.
Can't argue with that, I also noticed he had no overtime minutes last night. I don't mind that as much since he hasn't done much in his OT showings in Calgary. But he and Barkov were dynamite in OT last season.
My biggest gripe with him is he is Tanguay 2.0, he will not shoot even if in a prime shooting location. You play with Lucic, shoot the puck man.
I don't see this one changing anytime soon. He's very much like Thornton, Oates, H.Sedin and Backstrom in that his one elite offensive trait is playmaking. He also offers much less outside of that than the aforementioned players.
Ultimately, I do think Huberdeau's lack of production can be explained to not adapting well to his linemates and Sutter's system (which is drastically different than his last 4 years in Florida.)
I think it's just as much an indictment to his limitations as a player as it is Sutter's system.
Of course, maybe Huberdeau learns to produce in Sutter's system. One can only hope.