The opening month of the 2025-26 season has not gone the way Connor Zary was hoping or expecting.
Like so many of his Calgary Flames teammates, he’s struggled. His numbers have dipped, he’s bounced around the lineup and he’s searched for answers. With only one goal and one assist through 15 games, his production has been nowhere near what anyone was thinking it would be when he signed a three-year contract that’s paying him US$3.775-million annually.
“Obviously, I’ve got to get my game going here. It’s been a frustrating start for me,” Zary said. “I think I’m just trying to get that confidence back and get back on track and make plays. It felt good to be with those two guys, finding each other and feeling good.
“As a competitor and as a player, you always want to do good. You want the team to do good and you also want yourself to do good. When things aren’t quite going your way, it can get frustrating pretty easily and half this game is completely mental so it’s trying to have good self-talk and keep yourself in it and keep yourself dialled on the right things.”
It’s to Zary’s credit that he isn’t hiding from his slow start. He’s legitimately taking accountability, both publicly and behind the scenes.
There are no excuses, either, even if those of us on the outside are wondering whether the two serious injuries he suffered may be affecting him on the ice. That would make sense, right?
Zary was just starting to get hot last season when he suffered the first injury when he was taken out by a knee-on-knee hit from the Anaheim Ducks’ Drew Helleson in early January.
He’d return to the lineup in late February but didn’t look the same until an awkward collision with the Dallas Stars’ Mikko Rantanen caused another knee injury that ended his year for good.
Have there been any lingering after-effects?
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“Not from where I sit,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “I can’t tell you if that was in the back of his head at all, but I didn’t see it in training camp and I know he had a great summer, so I don’t think that had anything to do with it.”
Zary doesn’t think the injuries contributed to his slow start, either. There are other factors that have contributed.
“It’s just mentally, for sure, I can’t lie that it makes a difference,” Zary said. “Just coming in and trying to find your game and you make a few mistakes and then sit out for a couple games and then you’re nervous to make a mistake.
“It’s just going out there and trying to play loose and be myself and do the things that make me a good player, right? Obviously, you kind of magnify when you get a Grade-A chance and you’re making playing and you’re not getting points. Then, you magnify every little play a little bit more, so I think it’s trying to get back to basics and be myself, really.”
Calgary Flames forward Connor Zary (47) knocks down his own rebound off Winnipeg Jets goaltender Eric Comrie (1) during second-period NHL action in Winnipeg on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025.
The Flames do need Zary to find his game sooner rather than later. He hasn’t scored since the second period of their very first game of the season and according to Natural Stat Trick, he’s had the third-fewest high danger scoring chances among Flames forwards this season, ahead of only fourth-liners Ryan Lomberg and Justin Kirkland.
There have been signs that his game was improving — and nobody is questioning Zary’s commitment — especially last week when he was playing alongside Nazem Kadri and Joel Farabee. If there was a fall-off in this weekend’s two shutout losses to the Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild, the same could probably be said about every forward on the Flames roster.
For now, all Zary can do is work on his game. It’s been frustrating, but the work is there.
“When Connor’s digging into the hard parts of the game, he has the puck a fair bit and that’s when he’s at his best,” Flames head coach Ryan Huska said. “That’s always been our challenge with him. You have to find a way as a guy that we need to generate some offence. How do you get the puck more? A lot of it comes from the hard parts of the game.
“There’s always the push on us to make sure he’s competitive in those areas because we feel when he does have the puck, good things happen.”