Flames name Huska head coach

The Calgary Flames named Ryan Huska as the 24th head coach in franchise history on Monday.

Watch the Flames introduce Huska LIVE on TSN.ca and the TSN App at 2:30pm ET/11:30am PT.

The 47-year-old has spent the past five seasons as an assistant coach on the Flames bench.

“Following a detailed search process, today we are proud to introduce Ryan Huska as Head Coach of the Calgary Flames,” general manager Craig Conroy said. “While continuity and familiarity are a benefit, we have witnessed first-hand Ryan’s work ethic; he is a clear communicator who builds trust with his players; and he’s a critical thinker with a plan.”

“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,” said Conroy. “Ryan has earned this opportunity and we are confident he is the right coach for our team.”

The Flames parted ways with general manager Brad Treliving and head coach Darryl Sutter after the team failed to make the playoffs as they finished ninth in the Western Conference with 93 points and a 37-28-17 record in the regular season.

Huska is the first head coaching hire by Conroy, who was announced as the eighth general manager in Flames history on May 23.

“I’m honoured to have earned the trust of Flames ownership, of Craig and the entire management group to coach this team,” said Huska. “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.”

A native of Trail, B.C., Huska previously spent four years as head coach of the Flames' American Hockey League affiliate Stockton Heat (now the Calgary Wranglers) before moving into the NHL ranks. Huska also spent seven seasons as head coach of the WHL's Kelowna Rockets prior to joining the Heat.

Huska was originally drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks with the 76th overall pick in the 1993 NHL Draft. Huska played four years with the Western Hockey League’s Kamloops Blazers (1991-95), where he won three Memorial Cups.

After his junior career, he spent three seasons with the Indianapolis Ice of the International Hockey League (1995-98) one year with the AHL’s Lowell Lock Monsters (1998-99) and concluded his playing career in the AHL with the Springfield Falcons in the 1999-00 season accumulating over 300 professional games.