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Connor Zary- 2020 1st round pick


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I am a big fan of this pick and would have been a big fan of it at 19. The fact they were able to get 2 3rd rounders plus get this guy is a real work of art on Treliving's part. I think there are draft years were a player like Zary would be a top 10 pick and he compares well to some recent top 10 center picks. It's a big bonus that he is a natural center because that is IMO the weakest position in the Flames prospect pool and in their organization over the long term. Big win getting him. 

 

Also a timely article here by Ryan Pike as to why you will likely see him get signed pretty quickly because it gives the Flames a big advantage with his contract. https://flamesnation.ca/2020/10/15/flames-have-an-incentive-to-get-connor-zary-signed-soon/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

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Curious how he dropped to us?  what happened  in those picks?

 

Was it just me or did I detect a hint of attitude in that interview?  wondering if that did it.

 

Supportive of the pick, sort of.   He was, by consensus, BPA at 19 or 24.     But on the other hand I never like downgrades and some of the guys picked up in 19th, 20th etc....are either great pieces (Schneider, RHSD) or dripping with talent and very likely overlooked by most scouts. (the following pick)   Liking Zary with a hint of jealousy over who we missed.

 

There is one thing which keeps me from going into a raging rant and that's that I like Poirier, their 3rd round pick who they picked up as a result of this.

 

.............

 

There I've said my small piece, on a positive note this guy seems to have the drive and the speed and the physical components and the skill to succeed in the NHL.   I don't know exactly why he dropped but I'm quite happy to have him as a Flames prospect.      Would love to get the take of others, especially rare unbiased assessment.   

 

edit:   just saw above that he's older.   Not loving that at all.   That could have absolutely dropped him.    The idea of signing him early (the Flames are notorious for this and then ruining the prospect) is another potential disaster.

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The hint of attitude and swagger is what we need and he is 18!!

 

My impression was a slight cockiness but happy with that as well.

 

Wish him every success.  I also like how upfront he said in a previous interview how he thought he would end up back in Kamploops this season and still had stuff to work on to make the jump to pros.  To me that is someone who knows his game and where he needsto be at.

 

 

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3 hours ago, jjgallow said:

Curious how he dropped to us?  what happened  in those picks?

 

Was it just me or did I detect a hint of attitude in that interview?  wondering if that did it.

 

Supportive of the pick, sort of.   He was, by consensus, BPA at 19 or 24.     But on the other hand I never like downgrades and some of the guys picked up in 19th, 20th etc....are either great pieces (Schneider, RHSD) or dripping with talent and very likely overlooked by most scouts. (the following pick)   Liking Zary with a hint of jealousy over who we missed.

 

There is one thing which keeps me from going into a raging rant and that's that I like Poirier, their 3rd round pick who they picked up as a result of this.

 

.............

 

There I've said my small piece, on a positive note this guy seems to have the drive and the speed and the physical components and the skill to succeed in the NHL.   I don't know exactly why he dropped but I'm quite happy to have him as a Flames prospect.      Would love to get the take of others, especially rare unbiased assessment.   

 

edit:   just saw above that he's older.   Not loving that at all.   That could have absolutely dropped him.    The idea of signing him early (the Flames are notorious for this and then ruining the prospect) is another potential disaster.

 

The pre-draft rankings are one thing.  A couple of teams went off that ranking and got their guy.

EDM should have taken Zary.

They chose Holloway.

Schnieder and LaPierre went just before.

 

Who will be better is anyone's guess.

I liked Amirov, but that went even before EDM's.

We ended up picking a d-man later that could easily have gone in the 1st.

Is he any worse than Bouchard was?

Similar issues I think.

One went in round 1 a few years back.

 

Follow up on Zary next summer.

I think you will like how he is trending.

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  • 2 months later...

Quite a 2 months or Zary (Dec and Jan). Named to Team Canada, playing at World Juniors, gets a contract and sounds like he will be invited to training camp once the World Juniors is over. 

 

Today was the deadline to get this done for this year which gives the Flames some extra flexibility on his deal as it can now slide for 2 years. 

 

 

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On 12/31/2020 at 5:07 PM, JTech780 said:

I like what I have seen from Zary at the WJC. You can see the hockey sense and skill is there. He just needs to get stronger and work on his skating. The skating is the only thing that is going to hold him back.

 

Agreed, his intelligence really jumps out at you. It seems simple but the way he anticipates and makes the play quick and easy is pretty impressive for his age. Reminds me a lot of Backlund, just the way his intelligence stood out at the same age. 

 

I agree on his skating, he's got to get his first few strides better but that could come with strength too. The top end is find, but he's got to get to areas sooner but his intelligence is going to make up for it to a large degree too. 

 

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Oh Crap. Too bad. Nice that he got a silver and the experience of feeling the loss in such a high level game. Losing in such a way could be a good motivational tool, especially in an important game. The saying goes that you have to lose to learn how to win. I think in some cases it doesn't matter, like with the Oilers. But losing in big games can push players harder to improve. Good learning experience for our guys.

 

So the Flames drafted an older player this year. Not that it matters. He did make it above a bunch of players. I sometimes wonder about drafting a player who is a bit younger gives them more time to grow, and possibly more upside? They'd always be playing someone above them in their draft class. I guess Monahan was one of the older ones in his draft class if I recall correctly? I just worry that older guys have tended to be bigger than their peers for some time and then eventually once the playing field levels age-wise, then those younger players catch up and surpass. Not to say it happens with every player, or that it should be a tool to used when drafting. I just hope the Flames didn't make a mistake by trading down twice and there being a huge difference between guys taken at 19-23. 

 

I thought he was younger, so now I would have liked to have seen him assert himself more than he did, to play a bigger role. 

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Age should for sure be taken into account when drafting and it is a factor. However, with Zary i's worth pointing out that while yes he was older in the draft his previous season was pretty impressive too. PPG player in the dub as a soon to be 18 year old and then a PPG at the under 18s would have gotten him first round consideration too. It's not like this is a player who went off in an older season. 

 

I also think it's wroth pointing out that while sure you always want to see him play a bigger role, Team Canada was insanely deep up front. Every forward was a first round pick and you had 3 top 10 picks all down the middle at center (Dach, Byfield, Cozens) and then Newhook as well. Then add an additional 2 returning players in McMichael and Mercer and half the forward roster is already full and then your also competiting with the 3 or 4 others who are even older. 

 

It's a pretty big positive he even made the team never mind that he was a player the coach counted on and moved up the lineup several times. 

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  • 2 months later...
  • 5 weeks later...

Okay I don't remember all the names of the players we passed on in the draft but I do remember we did drop down a few picks and ended up with Zary which came with some extra picks. My Question is did we lose some quality players which will be or possibly be way better players than Zary was it worth dropping down. I know according to Management we got the player they wanted any way but of course I have never heard them say they didn't get the player they were hoping for Management is very good at blowing smoke. I remember there was a good player that had been hurt that some analyst considered better than what was left on the board?

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6 minutes ago, zima said:

Okay I don't remember all the names of the players we passed on in the draft but I do remember we did drop down a few picks and ended up with Zary which came with some extra picks. My Question is did we lose some quality players which will be or possibly be way better players than Zary was it worth dropping down. I know according to Management we got the player they wanted any way but of course I have never heard them say they didn't get the player they were hoping for Management is very good at blowing smoke. I remember there was a good player that had been hurt that some analyst considered better than what was left on the board?

 

Who is to say at this point what we missed out on.

We picked a player rated in the top 30, so it wasn;t a reach.

Perhaps give the player a chance to see how he is?

Were you excited that we drafted Monahan or Bennett?

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1 minute ago, zima said:

Okay I don't remember all the names of the players we passed on in the draft but I do remember we did drop down a few picks and ended up with Zary which came with some extra picks. My Question is did we lose some quality players which will be or possibly be way better players than Zary was it worth dropping down. I know according to Management we got the player they wanted any way but of course I have never heard them say they didn't get the player they were hoping for Management is very good at blowing smoke. I remember there was a good player that had been hurt that some analyst considered better than what was left on the board?

Hendrix Lapierre was the guy.  It's really hard to say right now if they were missed opportunities.  Some people like Braden Schneider, I'm not as high on him, there was a surprise pick by Columbus.  Tyson Forrester went right before and he is 6'2 and a RHS.  Neither Lapierre or Forrester have played much hockey this year, whereas Zary beat out both to make team Canada and has had a solid stint in the AHL and a good showing in junior.  Too early to tell right now, but we shouldn't jump the gun on missed opportunities quite yet as Zary has been just fine this year.

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Once Dawson Mercer went, 1 pick before the Flames original spot. i believe Zary was the next best guy. I believe Hendrik Lapierre is who you are referring to (good player who was hurt) but I prefer Zary. I personally don't see the upside in Lapierre that others seems too but even if you want to argue he's better I think it's a debate. if its a debate between players and you picked up 2 3rd round picks that is a win 1000% of the time. 

 

And yes Zary is older but at the same time the list of players who have put up that PPG pace in the WHL in the last 10 years is pretty small and includes some pretty good names. Small sample size thought too so would have to do it over 60 games like they did and not 20 but still encouraging IMO. 

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Thats the one Lapierre was the one I thought was the pick I thought we should have gone after but of course we will not know for a few yrs but Lapierre was the one the scouts thought was a better pick by far saying that the scouts or News scouts I guess have been known to be wrong many times.

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8 minutes ago, zima said:

Thats the one Lapierre was the one I thought was the pick I thought we should have gone after but of course we will not know for a few yrs but Lapierre was the one the scouts thought was a better pick by far saying that the scouts or News scouts I guess have been known to be wrong many times.

Depending on the draft, but I am generally all for trading down if we are picking outside the top 15.  I won't judge trading down based solely on if Zary is better than those picked between him and the original spots, but if Zary turns into a solid player and we hit on either Poirier or Boltman it is a definite win, unless one of those guys becomes a franchise player which I don't feel too confident they will at this point.  Too early to tell on either, Poirier has great offensive numbers, but needs work defensively and Boltman's early returns don't look promising but did transition to the NCAA part way through the year.  

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I don't understand why ppl here seem to be ok with drafting NCAA players it is a crap shoot if the player become a phenom he Shirly will  not play for the flame when he can choose what ever team he wants although a few have picked Calgary most don't and we lose a quality pick to someone else and that scares me plus you have to wait 4 yrs to find out if he will play for use any way.

 

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3 minutes ago, zima said:

I don't understand why ppl here seem to be ok with drafting NCAA players it is a crap shoot if the player become a phenom he Shirly will  not play for the flame when he can choose what ever team he wants although a few have picked Calgary most don't and we lose a quality pick to someone else and that scares me plus you have to wait 4 yrs to find out if he will play for use any way.

 

We've had one prospect from the NCAA that more or less chose not to sign with the Flames.  Gaudreau, Jankowski, Gillies, Arnold, Hanowski, Agostino, Petterson and Kuznetsov have all signed and that's not counting a few highly sought after undrafted players like Foo and Mackey in the past 10 years.  Adam Fox was no different than Tim Erixon, should we no longer draft Swedes?

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