Flames’ Huberdeau Faces Backlash After Brutal Reaction in Blowout Loss

Jonathan Huberdeau isn’t just frustrating fans with his poor play and lack of production at an extremely high salary. Now, he’s catching heat for the way he’s reacting to ugly losses, the one the Calgary Flames suffered on Monday night to the Vegas Golden Knights.

The way people are viewing Huberdeau today is a drastic shift from how fans in Calgary were viewing him just a couple of weeks ago.

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As the hosts of The Big Show on Sportsnet 960 The Fan suggested, Huberdeau had has his worst game of the season against Vegas and he’s getting worse. Brent Khran noted, “Huberdeau wasn’t good last night. And you know what I didn’t like? This is me being nit-picky, and old school. I didn’t like him laughing with whoever he was laughing with in the third period when it was 5-0.”

Rusic chimed in and said they were “Yucking it up” and then noted that if you’re a fan who stayed up to watch your team get piled on, that’s not OK.

“I just see that and I’m like, ‘I don’t like that.’ “I could not believe that he was laughing. You’re losing 5-0. Do you care? Do you care? I don’t know, but I tell you what. You think [Nazem] Kadri is laughing when it’s 5-0? You think [Connor] Zary is laughing with a missing tooth from the night before? You think [Dan] Vladar is laughing when he’s saying, ‘I need more rest?’ He’s been in the league long enough to know better. Are you in the league just to make friends and make money? That’s a joke. I’m actually getting mad talking about it right now.”

Are these two and others who are upset about Huberdeau’s actions overreacting? It’s not a good look for Huberdeau as his team was losing that badly and he was anything but upset. Having gone on a losing streak, to make matters worse, Huberdeau has fallen flat. He has seven points in 10 games, but only one point in his last five. He’s part of the reason the Flames are struggling after a hot start.

Fan Reaction Hasn’t Been Kind to Huberdeau

The Flames are going through a rebuild, so there will be ups and downs. That’s not going to stop fans from jumping all over things they don’t like. And, for several seasons now, they’ve not liked what Huberdeau has brought for his $10.5 million per season salary.

“Healthy scratch him for a few games,” wrote one fan. Another added, “Just buy him out, if he doesn’t give a f—, get the poison out of the dressing room.”

How long before fans try to run Huberdeau out of town? If the impression is he doesn’t care or doesn’t want to be in Calgary, Flames fans will be happy enough to send him on the first bus out of town. But, at that salary and with his inconsistent play, he’s not going anywhere.

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