[devo22]

The Athletic has Zary tied for 4th in their midseason Calder rankings. Scott Wheeler has him 6th, Harman Dayal has him 4th.

T4. Connor Zary — C, 22, Calgary Flames

Stats: 37 GP, 9 G, 13 A, 22 PTS, 15:27 ATOI

Wheeler’s ballot: 6th
Dayal’s ballot: 4th

Zary’s a tricky one because he’s played nine or 10 fewer games than the other skaters to this point, which amounts to about 20 percent of the year so far. At the end of the season though, that’s likely to have shrunk to about 10 percent. It becomes a lot easier to make apples-to-apples arguments about 70 versus 80 games than 37 versus 47. Still, he deserves continued consideration at this stage based on his play. Of the six rookie forwards who made our list, he’s still tied for fourth in total points even though he has played the second-fewest games. He’s also third in points per game at 0.59 behind only Bedard (0.85) and Carlsson (0.67). Though he missed 10 games, his rates across 72 games pace to 18 goals, 26 assists and 44 points. That’s still probably not going to be enough for a nomination but it might land him fourth or fifth on some ballots when it’s time for the real thing and the 10-player ballots we’ve created for this exercise are cut in half.

He has also just looked like a good NHL player right away. His effort and skill have given the Flames a nice boost, his on-ice results look good, and while NHL Edge data reveals he’s not the fastest player out there it also shows that his skating, once cause for criticism, has been about league average. — Wheeler

https://theathletic.com/5214506/2024...connor-bedard/