LAS VEGAS — Sam Honzek knows he won’t be back in Flames silks in game action for the rest of the season.
But just getting back on the ice at the Scotiabank Saddledome with some of his teammates this past week was a big step forward.
Honzek was on the ice with a half-dozen or so teammates before the Flames took off on this mammoth six-game, 14-day road trip through the Western Conference. And while he’s not here in Vegas with the team, he’s working every day to come back in the fall better than ever before.
The 21-year-old was finding a groove this fall, playing on a line with veterans Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman, before a fluke collision during a game Nov. 15 ended his season.
But for a guy that’s battled injuries in the past, this latest setback isn’t wiping the ear-to-ear grin off his face.
“It's been pretty much two weeks on (the ice) with myself and Staj (Skills Consultant Matt Stajan), it was kind of lucky that I could get out with the group,” Honzek said of his session with his Flames mates. “It was great to just have fun there.”
Had he kept going this past fall, Honzek was certainly a possibility for the Slovak Olympic team at the Winter Games in Milan this past February. But at his young age - and with practically his whole career in front of him - further international opportunities are sure to follow.
For now, he’s focused on building toward a 2026-27 campaign that he hopes will be his best yet.
Obviously it's hard to know that I won't probably be playing until the season is done,” Honzek recalled of the moment he knew his upper-body injury was a long-term one. “It's gonna be a fresh start for me. I'll be feeling good on the summer and then I'll have basically a whole four months to just work.
“Coming in next year, I’ll be ready to compete and pick up where I left off.”
And even if it was only for one day, one practice, Honzek’s Head Coach figures just having some colleagues to share the ice with was important.
“I think it's more mental for him than anything, everything's good,” Ryan Huska commented. “He’s at the point where he'd be very close to being ready to get into some contact. To get him out on the ice with those guys, I think it’s important as well because it puts him in a better mind frame.
“It's been a long year. Hard on a young guy like that, but I think he's handled it really well. So whenever we can get him on the ice with the guys, we’re going to do that.”
Honzek says he plans on spending a couple months back home in Slovakia before returning back to Calgary in the summer to continue his 2026-27 prep under the watchful eyes of the Flames’ strength and conditioning staff.
But after a winter on the sidelines, just skating, passing pucks, and enjoying being on the ice with teammates last week clearly means the world to Honzek.
Injuries aside, the young winger is still a big part of this year’s team.
And an even bigger part of this team’s future plans.
"It's definitely different,” Honzek said of training with teammates versus skating alone. “I would say more fun, right? Like, you have guys around smiling, enjoying playing hockey, and that's what it's all about.
“I was really happy I could be out there, it literally made my day.”
