Connor Zary making a serious case to be a finalist for the Calder Trophy

In the Calgary Flames’ first season under the management of Craig Conroy, things look drastically different than they did under the previous regime.

Gone are the old, slow, grinding fourth liners to fill in every possible hole in the roster. Instead, young players, drafted and developed by the organization, are stepping up and providing a spark Flames fans have been deprived of for many, many years.

This year, we’ve seen the likes of Jakob Pelletier, Martin Pospisil, Dustin Wolf, Cole Schwindt, Matt Coronato, Brayden Pachal, Adam Klapka, Yan Kuznetsov, and Ilya Solovyov, all U-25 skaters, play games for the Flames. However, the player leading the charge is 2020 first-round pick, Connor Zary.

Connor Zary’s production this season

Zary made his NHL debut on November 1, 2023, for the Flames in a 4–3 loss to the Dallas Stars. However, Zary came out of the gate flying, scoring his first NHL goal in his debut, and showing that he could play at the highest level in the world.

Since then, all he’s done is produce. Here is the rookie scoring leaderboard since he made the jump to the NHL.

Player	Team	GP	Goals	Total Assists	Primary Assists	Secondary Assists	Total Primary Points	Total Points
Connor Bedard	CHI	30	11	16	13	3	24	27
Brock Faber	MIN	41	3	24	13	11	16	27
Connor Zary	CGY	41	12	14	7	7	19	26
Marco Rossi	MIN	41	10	14	7	7	17	24
Dmitri Voronkov	CBJ	41	11	12	7	5	18	23
Adam Fantilli	CBJ	40	10	12	8	4	18	22
Luke Hughes	N.J	41	7	13	5	8	12	20
Tyson Foerster	PHI	43	10	9	3	6	13	19
Logan Cooley	ARI	41	6	13	11	2	17	19
Luke Evangelista	NSH	41	8	9	7	2	16	17

Connor Bedard is still the best rookie in the field, but since Zary entered the league, he’s been a very clear top-three, and arguably second-best rookie. Over this period of time, Zary leads all rookies with 12 goals, is second in primary points, and third in total points. Here’s where he ranks in all the above stat categories:

Statistic	Goals	Total Assists	Primary Assists	Secondary Assists	Total Primary Points	Total Points
Raw Total	12	14	7	7	19	26
League Rank	1	3	6	3	2	3

Across the board except for total primary assists, Zary is a top-three rookie in the NHL.

If you zoom out and look at overall rookie scoring, which takes away all of October when Zary wasn’t in the NHL, he’s still near the top.

Statistic	GP	Goals	Total Assists	Primary Assists	Secondary Assists	Total Primary Points	Total Points	+/-	Point /GP
Raw Value	41	12	14	7	7	19	26	17	0.63
League Rank	15	3	8	12	5	5	5	1	2

Despite playing the 15th most games out of rookies this season, Zary ranks third overall in goals, fifth in primary points, fifth in total points, first in plus-minus (by a LOT, the next closest player in the top-10 scorers is +5), and second in points per game.

No matter what way you cut it, Zary has been one of the league’s very best rookies this season.

Connor Zary in the Calder Trophy conversation

By all accounts, the two locks to be Calder finalists this season are Bedard and Brock Faber. Both are having phenomenal seasons and deserve to be in the final three. However, Zary should be getting way more respect and recognition for his season so far, and should justly round out the top-three.

His stats since getting to the NHL are objectively in the top three, and his impact on the team has been massive. He’s playing top-six minutes and top power play, and has been one of the team’s go-to offensive threats.

Right now, Zary’s Calder odds on betting sites are sitting as high as +2500, which is criminally low for how well Zary has played. Some books don’t even have Zary listed at all, which truly makes no sense.

For books that allow you to cash out early, Zary is a strong play as his odds simply can’t stay that low to win the Calder.

He’s been one of the best Flames, best rookies, and best stories this season. Hopefully, Zary can continue to produce and make his way into the Calder conversation more seriously as the season wears on.

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Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire