Keeping it in-house, I like it.
Giving him a promotion, the Calgary Flames have named assistant Ryan Huska as their new head coach, according to an announcement from the team Monday.
It will be Huska’s first head coaching job in the NHL.
For the last five seasons, 47-year-old Huska has been an assistant coach with Calgary. In the 2022-23 campaign, he was managing the penalty kill unit that had a No. 6 ranking in the entire National Hockey League.
Huska replaces Darryl Sutter who was fired May 1 following three years at the helm. Named general manager three weeks ago, the move is also the first for Craig Conroy.
“I’m honoured to have earned the trust of Flames ownership, of Craig and the entire management group to coach this team,” Huska said in the statement. “My position coming into this is a little different than most as I know our players very well. We have good people in our dressing room, excellent hockey players who want to win. My job is to inspire them every single day to help get our team to the next level.”
Huska has previous head coaching experience in both the AHL and WHL. (RELATED: United States U16 Basketball Wins FIBA Americas Championship Gold After Completely Annihilating Canada, 118-36)
“Ryan provides 11 seasons of bench experience as a head coach from the WHL and the AHL and over 20 years coaching in total, including knowledge gained as an assistant coach in Calgary for the past five seasons,” Conroy said in the statement. “Ryan has earned this opportunity and we are confident he is the right coach for our team.”
So well-deserved 🔥
The #Flames have named Ryan Huska head coach!
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) June 12, 2023
Solid move by the Flames.