The finalists for the Calder Trophy for the NHL’s top rookie of the 2023–24 season were announced earlier this week, and once again the Calgary Flames did not have a player in the top three of voting this year. Many of us thought there might be an outside chance that Connor Zary might get a nod after stealing the show for the Flames when he was called up in early November, but he was left off the top three.
Despite that, the Flames have a really nice piece in Zary, and he showed loads of potential this year in his first NHL season. Zary is going to be an extremely important player moving forward for the Flames and the future potential for him is still very high.
Zary’s immediate impact
When the Flames called Zary up just a month into the season, I don’t think anybody would have expected him to be as good as he was right out of the gate. After just six games with the Wranglers where he had 10 points, the Flames had no choice but to give Zary a run at the NHL level. He had one of the most impressive debuts in Flames history as he was all over it and scored in his first game, the Flames had no choice but to keep him up.
His impact on the game was infectious, he single-handedly dragged the Flames back to relevancy and he was a huge reason why Nazem Kadri had the second-best year of his career. Not to mention that was while Zary was playing the winger position and not at his natural centre position for the majority of the year.
Zary proved right away that he could hang with the big club, and he solidified his position in the Flames top-six as quickly as anyone possibly could. He was electrifying from the word go, and all we can do is hope that he can maintain that going into next year.
The numbers don’t tell the whole story
When you look at Zary’s stat line for his rookie year, it doesn’t jump off the page and it sure doesn’t make you think that he had as great of a season as many of us have led you to believe he has. Let me tell you though, the numbers do not tell the entire story.
Zary finished his rookie season with 14 goals and 20 assists for 34 points in 63 games, it is definitely respectable, but the numbers were not large enough to stack up against Connor Bedard to get himself a Calder nod. What I think is impressive however is that at an 82-game pace, Zary played at a 22-goal pace and 44-point pace for the season, for a guy who came into a team that was offensively challenged, I would say that is a pretty solid year.
Zary was sheltered this year as 69.7% of his starts in all situations were in the offensive zone, he wasn’t given a ton of defensive responsibility, which is totally fine. He drove play and was executing at the offensive end, he made the most of his chances. While he rode a high shooting percentage for a good chunk of his season, he is still a player who was creating offence for himself and getting to the areas to create high-danger looks for both himself and his teammates, and that is not something that will show up on the score sheet. Zary really did do it all this year.
Transitioning to the centre position
As I mentioned above, Zary played primarily at wing this past season, until the last few games of the year when he was given a run at centre—the position he was drafted as—and Zary did much more than hold his own.
While playing centre, he played a majority of it with Jonathan Huberdeau as his winger, the sample size was small, but those two as a combo dominated in the few games they had together. Zary was already a defensively responsible player even though he was heavily sheltered, but you could see the way he sees the game defensively when he was playing the middle of the ice. When the puck did change hands, Zary’s poise and skill were able to move the puck up the ice quickly to create offensive looks.
It is not easy to break into the league as a young player and play centre, never mind playing the position well. For the small sample we had of Zary at centre, he showed well. The next steps for him next season will be to continue to get reps in a centre and to continue driving the play. If Zary can blossom into a centre, it will be a massive boon to a team that has no organizational depth down the middle of the ice.
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A big sophomore season upcoming
We have seen plenty of players in the past hit a slump in their second year in the league. While Zary did not get the full 82 games in this year, you can bet that next season it will be a goal for him to play a full season.
An NHL season is really about ebbs and flows—we saw both in this past year for Zary. He started red hot, hit a little bit of a slump where he saw himself miss some games due to an injury, and then was able to overcome that and have a nice strong finish to the season. If Zary can be a little more consistent next season, you can bet on him topping his point totals and becoming a well-rounded player in both ends of the ice.
What we know is that Zary has a promising future in Calgary, and I for one cannot wait to see what he is cooking up for next season.
Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire
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