Back on Mar. 27, Calgary Flames forward Connor Zary was involved in an ugly collision that resulted in a pretty scary injury. At the time, onlookers feared that Zary had suffered a major injury to his previously-injured left knee.

Earlier this week, the Flames delivered some fairly good injury news, categorizing Zary as “week to week” with a lower body injury. During Tuesday’s broadcast of the Flames’ game with the Utah Hockey Club on Sportsnet, general manager Craig Conroy joined Sportsnet’s Ryan Leslie during the first intermission.

Among several topics of conversation touched on during their chat, Conroy shared a bit of an update on Zary. In short: the injury (thankfully) isn’t as bad as initially feared. Conroy added a glimmer of hope: “I wouldn’t be surprised to see him back this season.”

The Flames’ first-round pick in 2020, the 23-year-old Zary is in his second NHL season after playing his way onto the team a month into the 2022-23 campaign. He’s emerged as a really versatile forward that can play centre or the wing ably. He’s shown some fantastic offensive flair since breaking into the NHL.

He’s also had some pretty rough injury luck. He suffered a knee injury in early January against Anaheim as he attempted to dangle around Ducks defender Drew Helleson and they clashed knees. After that collision, Zary missed 15 games before returning after the 4 Nations Face-Off. (That injury was initially categorized as “indefinite” before being downgraded to “week to week” as Zary worked his way through his rehabilitation process.)

Zary has 13 goals and 14 assists for 27 points in 54 games this season. He has 27 goals and 34 assists for 61 points over 117 career NHL games. He’ll become a restricted free agent following this season.

Excluding Tuesday’s game in Utah, the Flames have eight games remaining on their 2024-25 regular season schedule.