It is still the opening stretch of the 2026-27 NHL regular season, yet front offices are already making perplexing decisions that have analysts scratching their heads. Perhaps the most curious personnel move of the young campaign involves the Calgary Flames and 25-year-old center Connor Zary, a young forward with proven offensive capabilities who now finds his future with the organization hanging in the balance.
The sequence of events leading to Zary’s waiver placement highlights a franchise under immediate pressure. The Calgary Flames suffered a disastrous start to the 2026-27 regular season, dropping their first four games in blowout fashion. The team’s defensive structure and goaltending completely unraveled during the opening stretch, culminating in a combined score of 16-3 against them over their first three losses alone.
In response to the dismal start, Flames general manager Craig Conroy opted to shake up his roster early Tuesday morning. Among the transactions, Conroy placed Zary on waivers, making him available to all 31 other NHL clubs for nothing more than a roster spot. To the surprise of some observers who monitor forward depth across the league, no team stepped up to claim Zary, allowing him to clear waivers and be assigned to the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers.
While nobody is arguing that Zary is the second coming of Connor McDavid or a perennial Hart Trophy candidate in the points department, the decision to discard him so cheaply raises serious questions. At 25 years of age, Zary may be nearing his competitive ceiling, but he is far from a finished product or a washed-up veteran. Over the course of his young career, he has established himself as a productive NHLer, recording 87 points in 193 regular-season games. Furthermore, in the two games he played just prior to being sent down to the minors, Zary managed to register an assist, showing that he was still actively contributing on the ice.
For a team seeking dependable forward depth and secondary scoring, a player with Zary’s track record and cost-controlled nature would typically present an intriguing, low-risk option. Yet, the Flames chose to essentially give up on him at a remarkably early juncture—not only in terms of the current season, but also regarding his current contract status and the broader timeline of the franchise’s development.
Zary is under contract for another full season after the conclusion of the 2026-27 campaign. More importantly, the Calgary Flames are still navigating the early stages of an extensive, multi-year rebuild. Given that the organization is supposed to be prioritizing asset accumulation, player evaluation, and long-term upside, the sudden rush to push Zary out the door defies conventional logic. When a rebuilding team gives up on a young, cost-controlled asset so quickly, it forces observers to wonder what internal calculations are driving the front office’s strategy.
Possible Trade Destinations For Connor Zary
Following Zary clearing waivers and heading to the AHL, reports emerged detailing what might come next for the young forward. According to a report from Sportsnet’s Eric Francis, the waiver demotion may not be the end of Zary’s time in the Flames organization, but rather a precursor to a potential trade. Rather than keeping him buried in the minor leagues for the entirety of the season, Calgary could look to orchestrate a deal with a club looking for forward help.
However, any potential trade will depend heavily on market demand and financial logistics. The return Calgary can expect will partly hinge on how much of Zary’s remaining contract general manager Craig Conroy is willing to retain in order to make the finances fit comfortably underneath an acquiring team’s salary cap structure.
If a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs were to take a flier on Zary, general manager John Chayka possesses more than enough salary cap space to fully absorb the center’s contract without needing any financial retention from Calgary. Even so, cap management is a meticulous science in the modern NHL; every dollar Chayka might save on Zary’s contract is a dollar he could allocate elsewhere on his roster. Consequently, Toronto might still demand that Calgary retain a portion of the salary, with the Maple Leafs sweetening the deal by attaching an additional draft pick to the package.
Another potential landing spot could be a franchise like the Seattle Kraken. Interestingly, the Kraken have familiarity with being on the opposite side of these exact types of personnel decisions—moves that effectively wave the white flag on a developing player too soon. A prime historical example is forward Morgan Geekie, whom Seattle allowed to leave for nothing as a free agent, only to watch him blossom into a key contributor with the Boston Bruins. The Kraken could view Zary as a prime bounce-back candidate, taking a calculated chance to see if he can develop into an important, long-term piece of their forward puzzle.
These potential scenarios underscore the very real risk the Flames are taking with this maneuver. For many hockey analysts, the decision feels like an unforced error. When an NHL franchise has played less than five percent of its total regular-season schedule and is already throwing established young players overboard, it raises legitimate concerns about panic and whether the front office is throwing the baby out with the bathwater during a difficult stretch.
Zary possesses clear NHL-level talent, and his current salary is far from punitive enough to justify keeping him out of hockey’s top league for an extended period. If Conroy is simply working to maximize a return on an asset that truly does not fit into Calgary’s long-term tactical plans, the logic is understandable from a managerial standpoint. However, there is a very real, visible danger that cutting ties with Zary this early could ultimately blow up in the Flames’ face.
If Zary rediscovers his offensive touch and carves out a productive career elsewhere, justifying this swift, early-season departure will become an exceptionally difficult task for the Calgary front office.