On Thursday, Calgary Flames forward Connor Zary left the club’s game against the Dallas Stars in the second period after a scary collision with Mikko Rantanen that led to fears that Zary had suffered a catastrophic injury.

On Friday, some chatter began emerging from typically well-informed sources such as Sportsnet’s Eric Francis and TSN’s Darren Dreger that Zary’s injury wasn’t as bad as initially feared. On Saturday, the Flames announced some fairly good news – given the initial fears from fans and onlookers alike – when they shared on social media that Zary will be out week-to-week with a lower body injury.

Back on Jan. 7, Zary had a scary collision with Anaheim Ducks blueliner Drew Helleson that resulted in an injury that was initially termed “indefinite” before being upgraded to “week-to-week” later on. Zary ended up not playing NHL games for six weeks – four weeks of the regular schedule and then the two week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off – before returning on Feb. 23.

Should Flames fans expect Zary back before the end of the season? Well, the Flames have 11 games and four weeks remaining in the regular season. Given the timeline we were given for Zary’s previous injury, we wouldn’t bet on him returning before the end of the season but we also couldn’t rule it out. (If the Flames thought Zary would need more time than is left in the season, they would’ve just said he’s out for the rest of the season as they did with the prior injuries to Anthony Mantha and Justin Kirkland.)

Speaking after morning skate Saturday in Edmonton, Flames head coach Ryan Huska spoke about Zary’s injury and the relief that it wasn’t a worse prognosis.

“I’m sure for the player and for us, without a doubt,” said Huska. “He went through a lot after his first injury, trying to get himself back ready to play. So you hate to see a player get injured again. Unfortunately, he’s going to have to do the same thing again to get himself ready to go. But he’s a good young man with a good head on his shoulders. I know he’ll commit to his rehab.”

In 54 games with the Flames this season, Zary has 13 goals and 14 assists for 27 points.