A player selected in the first round of the 2020 NHL Draft was placed on NHL waivers on Monday.
The Calgary Flames have placed Connor Zary, its 24th overall pick in 2020, on waivers. It came as a bit of a shock given where he was drafted and the fact he’s in his mid-20s.
#Flames have Connor Zary and Brayden Pachal on waivers Monday.
- Pat Steinberg (@SteinbergYYC) October 5, 2026
But now the question is: will there be a team that claims the 25-year-old on waivers, and should it be the Edmonton Oilers?
Well, who knows if Zary will even be available if the Oilers claim him? The waiver wire is the inverse of the standings last season, meaning the Oilers are 19th. Ahead of them are rebuilding teams like the Vancouver Canucks, Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks, and a handful of others. Those teams also have cap space.
According to PuckPedia, Zary has a cap hit of $3.775 million and will become a restricted free agent following the 2027-28 season. While the Oilers have just $761,666 in cap space as of right now, they can afford his contract if Mattias Janmark and Frederik Andersen are placed on the long-term injured reserve and Spencer Stastney is waived.
Below is an example of what the lines could look like with a fully healthy roster and Zary in the lineup, with Owen Michaels, Max Jones, Josh Samanski, and Isaac Howard all being sent down. Additionally, the Oilers would have upwards of at least $10 million in cap space ahead of the deadline.
Adding Zary’s cap space can work, but does it make much sense to add him to the lineup? Zary has spent three seasons in the NHL, scoring 39 goals and 86 points in 191 games. His rookie campaign in 2023-24 was his career-best year, scoring 14 goals and 34 points in 63 games, but his goal-per-game average in 2024-25 was better.
Over 54 games, Zary scored 13 goals and 27 points in 54 games as the Flames narrowly missed the playoffs. Zary had his least productive season in 2025-26, scoring 12 goals and 25 points in a career-high 74 games. That’s a solid middle-six contribution, especially on one of the worst teams in the NHL last season.
However, what made the Saskatoon product dynamic early in his NHL career was his skating. Two knee injuries in 2024-25 have been a major setback. The first came in early January 2025, after Drew Helleson went knee-on-knee with Zary. He missed 15 games, then in late March 2025, his season was ended after Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen fell on his knee, one day after Rantanen concussed Stuart Skinner.
Before the first knee injury, Zary played at a 20-goal, 46-point pace over 84 games. Since coming back from the knee injury, he’s played at a 14-goal, 28-point pace over 84 games, a noticeable decline.
Now, it stands to reason that some of that has to do with the Flames being the Flames. Their 96 points in 2024-25 were tied for the most ever by a non-playoff team, losing out on a spot in the 2025 playoffs by virtue of losing a tiebreaker. Last season, their 77 points were tied for the third-fewest in the NHL. But Zary’s knee injuries are concerning no matter how you slice it.
Zary at this point is a reclamation project, and the Oilers have had a bit of success in the last few years. Vasily Podkolzin had a solid rookie campaign in 2021-22, but struggled over the next two seasons with the Vancouver Canucks. By the 2024 off-season, the Vancouver Canucks shipped him out for a third-round pick, before Podkolzin had a career resurgence with the Oilers.
Perhaps Zary, who had produced like a middle-six player in the past, can do the same if the Oilers end up claiming him?
Cynthia Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for DFOEdmonton, DFOCalgary, and Blue Jays Nation. Follow her on X at @CynthiaRDelaney.
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