The Calgary Flames are making an internal hire, promoting assistant coach Ryan Huska to the top job, reports ESPN's Kevin Weekes.

Huska spent the previous five seasons as an assistant on the Flames' coaching staff. This is his first NHL head coaching opportunity, but he guided Calgary's AHL affiliate for four seasons before joining the big club. He also led the WHL's Kelowna Rockets to a Memorial Cup berth in 2009.

The 47-year-old most recently oversaw the Flames' penalty kill, which ranked sixth in the league this past season.

Calgary fired Darryl Sutter on May 1. The Flames missed the playoffs in two of Sutter's three campaigns behind the bench in his second tenure with the team. Calgary won the Pacific Division but bowed out in the second round of the postseason in 2021-22.

Former New York Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant was reportedly a "prime candidate" for the Flames' job before Huska emerged as the front-runner.

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