Way back in 2020, the Calgary Flames selected a talented, versatile young forward from the Western Hockey League’s Kamloops Blazers in the first round. Since their selection of Connor Zary in 2020, he’s managed to impress at the American Hockey League level and become an NHL regular.

But nearly 200 games into his NHL tenure, we’re still not entirely clear on what Zary’s long-term role will be with the Flames. Can the 2026-27 season bring any clarity for Zary’s role and future?

Zary broke into the NHL a month into the 2023-24 season. The Flames had gotten off to a lousy start and management decided to shake things up, bringing up Zary and Martin Pospisil, both of whom were off to pretty good starts with the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers. Zary and Pospisil spent much of the rest of the season as Nazem Kadri’s wingers, and “Kadri and the Kids” turned into a pretty effective trio for the hockey club.

The following season, 2024-25, Zary kinda bounced around all over the place. He was a winger sometimes – with Mikael Backlund/Blake Coleman and Kadri/Pospisil – but also sometimes a centre – with Yegor Sharangovich/Jakob Pelletier and Jonathan Huberdeau/Coleman. And sometimes he was on a checking line, like with Backlund’s trio, and sometimes he was supposed to generate offence. Oh, and he suffered two pretty scary knee injuries during the season that derailed his momentum in the second half of the season.

In 2025-26, Zary spent some time with Backlund/Coleman and Kadri/Joel Farabee… but he also found himself, at times, in the fourth line mix. He never regained the momentum he had in the first half of 2024-25, and by the end of the season, his role with the Flames seemed in flux.

Over the past two seasons there were always completely fair reasons to move Zary around the lineup, as he’s a player whose skillset can fill holes in all sorts of parts of the lineup. But it’s not clear if it was the ideal thing for the development of a talented young forward.

Can Zary play centre? Sure. Can he play the wing? Sure. And that versatility can be helpful to the team, and to the player, if his game has a distinct identity to it. But Zary hasn’t quite carved out a clear identity to his game yet, and so the variability in position and line has led to a variability in performance. Simply put: it would really benefit Zary, and the Flames, if they choose a lane for Zary, stick to it, and allow him to become really, really good at that specific role.

Zary’s a smart player. He’s a talented player. He’s someone that can really benefit an NHL club. But he won’t be able to do that consistently without a consistent job description.

Here’s hoping he gets a clear, distinct role defined in 2026-27.

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