The old saying goes that deadlines create urgency and movement. And it appears that’s the case when it comes to the Calgary Flames and restricted free agent forward Connor Zary.

For the entire summer, one of the big questions we’ve heard from fans and onlookers was some version of “Hey, how come Zary doesn’t have a new contract yet?” And the answer we’ve relayed has been some version of “Be patient, it’s not really a big deal until training camp begins.”

As the calendar flips from August into September, and training camp looms front-and-centre in the minds of everyone around the Flames, it sounds like there’s finally some traction on hammering out a new deal for Zary.

On Tuesday, The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta relayed that there was progress being made.

We spent Tuesday asking around and, yeah, we’re hearing similar things. There’s optimism that a deal could be reached fairly shortly. Our guess based on the chatter we’re hearing out there is a two or three year deal with a cap hit somewhere in the mid $3 million range.

A product of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Zary was a star with the Western League’s Kamloops Blazers and was the Flames’ first-round pick, 24th overall, in the 2020 NHL Draft. In four seasons on an entry-level deal – because he’s a late birthday that opted to sign right away, he was eligible to play in the AHL on a slide year – he posted 100 points in 140 AHL games and 61 points in 117 NHL games.

Zary’s been a really good pick-up for the Flames, progressing really nicely from the WHL to the AHL to the NHL and showcasing his ability to play both wing and centre. However, he suffered a pair of scary-looking injuries in 2o24-25 that halted his momentum. While 2021 first-rounder Matt Coronato had a stretch drive to really cement himself as a key member of the team going forward (and then got a big contract), Zary didn’t, and so that’s probably made negotiations a bit tougher because the Flames didn’t get to see Zary during the season’s crunch time. (If you accept the premise that the Flames really like Zary as a player, you need to know what sort of player and cap hit you’d be committing to before locking him in long-term.)

Regardless, locking in Zary for a couple seasons would give him some stability and the opportunity to really showcase himself as someone that can be a key piece of the puzzle for the hockey club. With a lot of young forwards coming up behind Zary from the 2023, 2024 and 2025 draft classes, he has a great opportunity to carve out a spot for himself before many of those youngsters start playing pro hockey.

The Flames begin prospects training camp next week, with the veteran group arriving for training camp the following week.

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