Flames center Samuel Honzek’s regular season is over after undergoing upper-body surgery, Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960 reports. He’ll be out for six months, meaning a potential return in May if Calgary makes the playoffs and makes it that far. Considering they’ve been in last place for most of the season with a 6-13-3 record, though, meaning he’s all but played his last hockey of 2025-26.
That’s a jarring change from Honzek’s initial week-to-week timeline. The 21-year-old was injured in last weekend’s game against the Jets when he collided with teammate Mikael Backlund in open ice, leaving the game and not returning. Such a lengthy recovery timeline indicates he sustained potentially significant shoulder damage or a collarbone fracture.
That collision ended what was a disappointing stretch for the 2023 first-round pick. Drafted 16th overall two years ago, the 6’4″ Slovak winger was a late inclusion on the opening night roster after it was apparent Martin Pospisil would miss significant time. While he’s gotten his first extended taste of NHL time, he hasn’t been able to do much with it. Despite being stapled to the left wing with Backlund and Blake Coleman in a top-nine role, Honzek only managed two goals and four points in 18 appearances. That’s no doubt influenced by a lack of power-play usage, which has limited his ice time to 12:21 per game.
Offense has been a consistent concern in Honzek’s game since being drafted, though. He had 56 points in 41 games for the WHL’s Vancouver Giants in his draft year but dipped back under the point-per-game mark for them in 2023-24. Upon turning pro last season, he only scored eight goals and 21 points in 52 games for AHL Calgary. That’s not a bad scoring line for a first-year pro, but for someone with his draft pedigree, the Flames were definitely looking for more production. Nonetheless, he still ranked as the Flames’ No. 2 prospect entering the season, according to Elite Prospects.
The good news is that Honzek was well on his way to establishing his floor as a third-line checking piece. While his unit with Backlund and Coleman hasn’t been explosive offensively, they’ve had great two-way chemistry and have been among the league’s better defensive forward lines. They’re only allowing 1.98 expected goals per 60 minutes at even strength, per MoneyPuck. That’s sixth in the league out of 37 forward trios with at least 100 minutes together this season.
Honzek will remain waiver-exempt next season in what will be the final year of his entry-level contract. With 10 months out of competitive action by the time he suits up in training camp next year and his point production turning pro lacking, it’ll be a storyline to watch to see if the Flames send him to the AHL out of the gate in 2026-27 to try to build up his scoring confidence.
The immediate result will be consistently elevated minutes for fellow first-rounder Connor Zary for the remainder of the season. After a round of drawn-out contract talks last summer, the Flames signed Zary to a three-year, $11.33MM contract but stuck him on the fourth line to begin the year. Understandably, that’s resulted in the 24-year-old only posting a goal and an assist in 20 games for the offense-starved Flames. He’s stepped up onto the wing with Backlund and Coleman in Honzek’s absence and should remain there for the foreseeable future.
Gridin, And Pospisil will soon push Honzek, And Lomberg out of the Flames lineup.
Gridin is fun to watch. Killer shot. Doubt I’ll ever be a fan of Pospisil – guy is a danger to himself and others lol