Sam Honzek understands that a little time in the AHL is part of almost every NHL player’s journey.
With that in mind, there’s no great disappointment about being sent to the minors for a stint with the Calgary Wranglers this week.
He’s only 19 years old, after all, and the winger may have even surprised himself when his strong play in the pre-season saw him make the Calgary Flames’ opening night roster.
Reassigned to the Wranglers on Friday, his goal is to get back to the NHL and that will surely happen soon enough. Some time in the AHL won’t hurt, though.
“To be honest, before the season I wouldn’t have even said that I would play five games with the Flames. It’s a big thing for me,” Honzek said Sunday at WinSport. “Now, it’s time to get better and I need to use this time to get better and every day come with purpose.”
Honzek’s first glimpse of top-level hockey taught him a lot. After leading the Flames in pre-season scoring, he played in the team’s first four regular-season contests — all wins — before an upper-body injury took him out of the lineup for two weeks. He returned for the team’s loss to the Utah Hockey Club on Wednesday before getting reassigned.
On Sunday, the 2023 first-round draft pick was practising with his Wranglers teammates for the first time.
“I haven’t even talked to Sam yet, but I’ll talk to him about his checking details,” said Wranglers head coach Trent Cull when he was asked what the team’s coaching staff would be working on with Honzek.
“We want to make sure that no matter what situation he’s being put in here, those are the blueprints, those are the basis points, because those are going to help him when he gets to the next level. How do we check to get the puck back? Where do we go and how hard do we look? But he’s had a great training camp, he’s come a long way since (the Young Stars Classic in) Penticton,” said Cull, referring to the prospects tournament in September.
“I know he’s had a little bit of an injury and he’s only played the one game (since returning), but he’s on his way back, it’ll be good for him to get back up and running.”
Honzek didn’t manage to record any points in his five regular-season games for the Flames, but he didn’t look out of place at the NHL level, either.
The Flames just want him to get more ice time, which will happen with the Wranglers, and focus on improving his details in key areas.
“Just keep doing what he’s been doing,” Flames head coach Ryan Huska said on Friday. “Unfortunately, he ran into that injury. He was playing really well for us and we wanted him to get back up to speed with a lot of puck touches and get himself kind of to the point he was throughout camp and the early portion of the season for us. I know we’ll see him back here soon.”
The goal, for Honzek, is to get back to the Flames sooner rather than later.
But a little time in the AHL isn’t going to hurt him. It can only help, really. He’s still very early in his professional hockey career and knows he’s got to continue improving.
“It was a great time up there. To play five games at 19 years old is pretty good, it’s a big thing for me,” Honzek said. “They just told me to come here, play more minutes, play in more situations and be on the puck, which I kind of missed with the Flames. But there’s lots of other things I learned with the Flames, so now I can (improve) on these things that I didn’t have with the Flames and get better and when the time comes I’ll be ready.”