Will Zary play his way into the Calder conversation?

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by driveway

I think this is wildly wrong. The gap between the 13th forward in the NHL and your 14th forward in the AHL is, I think, enormous. It might not appear that way in drills, or in measurables like speed, strength, etc.

But the thing that separates the NHL and players in the NHL from the leagues below it and other leagues around the world is that NHL players convert mistakes into goals so, so, so much faster and more regularly than in any other league. Make a mistake in the NHL and you're almost guaranteed to see a high-danger scoring chance for the other team.

And that's what separates guys who can play in the NHL from those who can't: they either almost never make mistakes, or they are fantastic at capitalizing on those mistakes, or - more commonly - both.

Your 14th forward in the A vs. the 13th in the NHL you're going to see guys who just make more mistakes. Consistently.

Just to be clear - I'm talking about 13th and 14th forward on the Flames. Not the 13th forward on the Flames and then the 14th ranked guy on the Wranglers who they call up from the ECHL.

I think our defense situation proves my point well. They've rotated between Gilbert, DeSimone and Osterele - are any of them really that different from each other in terms of impacting the team's performance?

[RedHawk12]

He's definitely playing way better than I'd have ever expected, but probably not enough to get into the Calder conversation. Very stacked rookie class this year - Bedard, Cooley, Fantilli, Leo Carlsson and Luke Hughes are all studs. Zary's also older than those guys. He probably fits in with the B tier of rookies, like Poitras and Cuylle.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

Just to be clear - I'm talking about 13th and 14th forward on the Flames. Not the 13th forward on the Flames and then the 14th ranked guy on the Wranglers who they call up from the ECHL.

I think our defense situation proves my point well. They've rotated between Gilbert, DeSimone and Osterele - are any of them really that different from each other in terms of impacting the team's performance?

Gilbert is a lot better at playing at the NHL pace than Oesterle or DeSimone.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Originally Posted by RedHawk12

He's definitely playing way better than I'd have ever expected, but probably not enough to get into the Calder conversation. Very stacked rookie class this year - Bedard, Cooley, Fantilli, Leo Carlsson and Luke Hughes are all studs. Zary's also older than those guys. He probably fits in with the B tier of rookies, like Poitras and Cuylle.

What sucks is big name hype will very likely play into this.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

What sucks is big name hype will very likely play into this.

As of right now my top 4 would probably be:

Bedard, Hughes, Carlsson, Zary,

So yeah I doubt Zary is going to be a finalist, but I think he could get some votes for sure.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

As of right now my top 4 would probably be:

Bedard, Hughes, Carlsson, Zary,

So yeah I doubt Zary is going to be a finalist, but I think he could get some votes for sure.

Yeah, I am expecting Zary to hit the wall and finish with about 30 points. If he sticks with his current pace then he should be top 3

[Funkhouser]

This is a great crop of rookies. I expect Bedard, Hughes, Carlsson, Fantelli, and a goalie will finish above Zary. Zary will finish in 6th or 7th place.

Pretty good IMO as I didn't think he would make the team and/or make an impact!!

[Erick Estrada]

Winning individual hardware hasn't help the Oilers accomplish anything. At long as he's a positive difference maker for the Flames it's a good thing for this organization and just having his name mentioned with the other Calder names is a good thing.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Bonded

Yeah, I am expecting Zary to hit the wall and finish with about 30 points. If he sticks with his current pace then he should be top 3

After getting 8 points in his first 8 games, he has 4 in the 9 games since.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

As of right now my top 4 would probably be:

Bedard, Hughes, Carlsson, Zary,

So yeah I doubt Zary is going to be a finalist, but I think he could get some votes for sure.

Faber has to be in the mix. 23 min per game (second most on his team), PP, penalty kill, 12 points.

[ThisIsAnOutrage]

Hail, C-Zar!

[AustinL_NHL]

Zary is daddy

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

He's no flash in the pan. I'm happy.

[stemit14]

Watching Bedard tonight he definitely looks like the lock for the Calder but I have really liked what I have seen from Zary. If he keeps up this scoring rate, he should be the runner-up IMO.

Exciting to look at the flames prospects and young guys these days. Zary is looking like a legit top six forward already at this point. Coronato looks like he could be a top six forward in the NHL as early as later this season. Pelletier is poised to be a great two-way middle six player. Klapka could end up being a physical, impact power forward in the middle of the lineup similar to Ferland. Honzek has not missed a step in the WHL since coming back from injury. Also great that all these guys have been developed to be two-way players. I think that can be a big difference-maker when trying to rebuild and be competitive within 3-4 years instead of 5-7 years.

I think the flames have made smart moves focusing on hockey IQ in their draft picks in recent years… it seems to be translating really well into NHLers that can contribute. I know the development of young players is rarely linear and there will be ups and downs for all of them… but it’s exciting to imagine these guys developing into their projected players in a couple seasons. Two-three years from now, the flames top powerplay unit could be:

Honzek-Zary-Coronato
Poirier-Sharongovich

And who knows what other great prospects the team gets from this draft from the Lindholm/hanifin/tanev trades!

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Faber has to be in the mix. 23 min per game (second most on his team), PP, penalty kill, 12 points.

He's definitely in the mix.

If Ohgren becomes an NHLer, that's one heck of a return for Fiala and could make the Suter/Parise dead cap situation less awful.

[blankall]

Having Zary is such a massive boost for this retooling/rebuilding team. Having a rookie step up and get calder consideration is the equivalent of getting a top 5 pick and then having that pick work out.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

After getting 8 points in his first 8 games, he has 4 in the 9 games since.

5 in his last 7, and that's with getting third line minutes many nights.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by blankall

Having Zary is such a massive boost for this retooling/rebuilding team. Having a rookie step up and get calder consideration is the equivalent of getting a top 5 pick and then having that pick work out.

In some respects yes, but Zary likely doesn’t have the upside of a top 5 pick that works out. But time will tell on that.

And no one is really getting Calder Cup consideration after 20 games or so.

But he’s already exceeded expectations. I would’ve be shocked if he keeps doing that.

[FanIn80]

If he keeps putting up points at his current clip, it's going to be Bedard and Zary at the top of the rookie leader board, with a substantial gap between Zary and 3rd place.

If he can manage to keep doing what he's doing (technically, he should be getting even better as the season progresses), I don't know how he isn't a finalist.

Edit: If the current top 5 P/GP continue to produce at their current rates for the rest of the season, it will finish like this:

Bedard: 74pts in 82 games.
Zary: 53pts in 72 games.
Carlsson: 49pts in 72 games
Rossi: 49pts in 82 games.
Voronkov: 45pts in 76 games.

Obviously any of them can/will fall off their current clip. One or two might even finish at a higher clip. All I'm saying is the "he won't be a finalist" folks aren't giving him enough credit, and I'll argue that there's a better chance they'll be wrong than right.

[FanIn80]

Also... there's a very good chance that Connor Zary finishes the season as the Flames' leader in points. Now, imagine we also manage to make the playoffs.

If that happens, it's not gonna be "is Zary a finalist." There's going to be serious consideration as people weigh the value of coasting along to 70 points on bottom feeder team vs coming into the league 10 games into the season and then leading a "looking like a bottom feeder" team right into the playoffs.

When you look at the Flames right now, Zary is 2nd in goals per game, 3rd in assists per game and 1st in points per game. All while being only 13th in minutes played per game.

It's not far fetched for him to lead this team in points at the end of the year, and this team to catch a wildcard spot. He's gonna get some 1st place Calder votes if that happens.