Teenager Honzek earns spot on Flames
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Samuel Honzek has made the Calgary Flames.
The 19-year-old, 2023 first rounder forced the club’s hand with his strong play in the preseason. He was among league leaders in points and impressed the Flames with his stick work, positioning, board play, and ability to draw penalties.
“It seemed like everyone had him written off before we’d even started,” head coach Ryan Huska said on Monday.
“He came in and did a lot of great things for us. The one thing that was important was the size and the speed that he played the game with, where he was assertive. As a young man, he didn’t look at all out of place. When he played against the better competition, he was still driving, still trying to get hard on pucks, and you could see as a coaching staff that he was responsible with what he was trying to do on the ice.”
Honzek was visibly elated when talking about the next step in his hockey career.
“I still didn’t really process it,” he said, of the conversation he had with Huska that he had made it. “It’s great that I made it, now it’s to be consistent and show that I deserve this spot.”
Honzek knew that he needed a strong camp after last fall, when he didn’t move the needle as a recent top pick. He credits Martin Pospisil, who will open the season centering Jonathan Huberdeau and Anthony Mantha, for keeping him motivated and encouraged while they trained together in Slovakia over the off-season.
“Every day, he was just like, ‘You’re making the NHL, you’re making the NHL this year,’” he said.
“‘Don’t even think about it.’”
Honzek’s likely to start his NHL career on a scoring line with Nazem Kadri and Andrei Kuzmenko, while also getting opportunities on the second powerplay unit, given Yegor Sharangovich is week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
"Playing with Kads and Kuzy has been a big thing for me,” Honzek said.
“I’m gonna try to learn a lot and be really good with them, play my game and help them be good players and a good line.”
The organization will point to Honzek as an example of what a player can accomplish when they come to training camp with the right approach.
“It just goes to show you that if you believe in yourself and you come in and work hard, you’re going to give yourself an opportunity,” Huska said.
“That’s something that we’ve tried to get across to our players, younger or older…that’s what he’s done now. Now, it’s up to him to make sure he doesn’t let go of that opportunity and keep being at his best every time he comes to the rink.”
Lines at Monday’s practice
Honzek-Kadri-Kuzmenko
Huberdeau-Pospisil-Mantha
Zary-Backlund-Coleman
Lomberg-Rooney-Klapka
Coronato
Weegar-Miromanov
Bahl-Andersson
Bean-Pachal
Hanley-Barrie
Vladar
Wolf