Five reasons for Flames fans to watch the IIHF World Championship
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My colleague Wes Gilbertson wrote an interesting piece on this topic earlier in the week, and I strongly recommend you read his story for a bit more of a deep dive.
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But the gist of it was that Honzek may have to play at centre for the Slovakian national team during the world championship.
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That could be fascinating.
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After a dazzling training camp, the 20-year-old started the season with the Flames before spending most of 2024-25 with the Wranglers in the AHL. The 2023 first-round draft pick has mostly been used as a left-winger, but the Flames have little depth in the centre of the ice right now, so it could be intriguing to see how he looks.
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Czechia will be looking to defend the gold medal they won on home ice at last year's IIHF World Championship and Adam Klapka is going to be a big part of that quest.
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The towering winger has been on the rise over the last year, going from an intriguing AHL prospect to a guy the Flames were playing on their first line down the stretch. He finished the season with six goals and four assists in 31 NHL games, but three of those lamp-lighters and three of those helpers came in the Flames' final eight games.
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How will his game translate onto the big international ice? We'll see, but it speaks to how much his stock has risen this season that he scored an invite to the team.
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Dan Vladar is one of three goalies on the Czechia roster, too, providing Flames fans with another reason to tune in as they look to repeat.
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Look, most fans probably aren't going to tune in to watch games just because a coach happens to be on the bench. We get that.
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But with Matt Coronato pulling out of the U.S. squad after an MRI last week, we're just going to highlight Huska's involvement and leave it at that.
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Huska worked wonders on the bench to help the Flames exceed all expectations and stay in the playoff fight right until the end and it's only going to be a good thing for him to be working with the likes of Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon.
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