Huberdeau's Hip Recovery Stretches Into October: Calgary's Wing Depth Tested Earlier Than Planned

Jonathan Huberdeau remains sidelined six months after undergoing hip resurfacing surgery in March, and Calgary Flames GM Craig Conroy clarified on Friday that the veteran winger will almost certainly miss the start of the 2026-27 regular season. Conroy had created confusion earlier in the week by referring to Huberdeau's delayed return as a "setback," but walked back that language, reframing the issue as his own optimistic miscalculation. The seven-to-nine-month recovery window Conroy outlined—now positioning Huberdeau for a late-October or early-November return—is tracking toward the latter end of that timeline, meaning Calgary enters camp and the Oct. 1 season opener against Seattle without one of its top three offensive threats.

The injury itself is not a surprise. Huberdeau played through chronic hip pain all of 2025-26, appearing in 50 games but posting a career-low 10 goals and 25 points, a material step backward from his historical output. Hip resurfacing is a durable procedure—Dr. Edwin P. Su, who performed Huberdeau's operation, has successfully rehabilitated Patrick Kane and John Klingberg back to full-time NHL duty—but it demands patience. Conroy's shift from "expecting camp" to "probably not camp" signals medical staff is holding firm on the timeline rather than accelerating the ramp. That's a disciplined call from a front office that has little margin for error: Huberdeau still carries five years at $10.5 million AAV, and re-injury or a partial return would crater both this season and next.

What this means operationally is that Calgary will lean on depth options through October. Alex Nylander has been invited to camp on a PTO, signaling the Flames view their projected second-line wing depth as below their threshold. Expect the Flames to operate with a leaner offensive identity early, running heavier through center and expecting secondary scoring from players like Rasmus Andersson and Elias Lindholm to carry more volume. The team's power-play architecture will likely shift as well—Huberdeau's perimeter skill is a staple of man-advantage sets—with new responsibilities distributed across whoever fills that slot.

For bettors, the timing carries two immediate implications. First, Calgary's team total and spread projections for October should reflect a material downgrade in offensive firepower. Losing Huberdeau means losing not just point totals but shot volume and assist potential; the Flames' expected goals generation will compress, a structural headwind that books may under-price if they assume a standard-issue slow start. Second, any prop tied to Huberdeau's season-opening participation—anytime goal, assists, shots—should be faded entirely through the first month. The confidence from Conroy's language ("matter of when, not if") points toward a return, but November looks far more likely than September. Take unders on any Huberdeau prop that prices in game availability before early November; the market may default to pricing him as available sooner than he actually will be.

Calgary's depth chart now carries genuine leverage into camp negotiations and trade deadline positioning. If Lindholm or another secondary forward struggles in Huberdeau's absence, Conroy may need to trade assets to patch the hole—or he may let the team operate lean, betting that Huberdeau's return in late fall functions as a mid-season upgrade. Either way, the Flames are locked into an artificially shallow roster window that punishes variance more than usual.