Connor Zary- 2020 1st round pick

[The_People1]

On 10/2/2021 at 1:56 PM, zima said:

So I watch the link on Zary the coach gave him a raving review saying he is probably one of the best players in that league so he was picked pretty high in the Draft why is that are they saying the WHL is not comparable to the OHL or the Q ?

 

Pretty much boils down to population

Ontario: 14-million

Western Canada: 11-million

Quebec+East: 10-million

 

There are just more kids to draw from in Ontario.  I do think the WHL compares very well with the Q though.  Depending on the draft, sometimes only 2 or 3 first rounders come from the WHL or QMJHL whereas the OHL can produce anywhere from 3 to 10. 

 

Nowadays, the US system is very good too.  Roughly speaking 650,000 kids in Canada play organized hockey compared to about 550,000 kids in USA play organized hockey.  That said, you still have America's most gifted athletes choosing Football, Basketball, or Baseball over hockey... hockey gets the smaller leftover athletes in the USA.

[jjgallow]

On 10/5/2021 at 4:44 AM, The_People1 said:

 

Pretty much boils down to population

Ontario: 14-million

Western Canada: 11-million

Quebec+East: 10-million

 

There are just more kids to draw from in Ontario.  I do think the WHL compares very well with the Q though.  Depending on the draft, sometimes only 2 or 3 first rounders come from the WHL or QMJHL whereas the OHL can produce anywhere from 3 to 10. 

 

Nowadays, the US system is very good too.  Roughly speaking 650,000 kids in Canada play organized hockey compared to about 550,000 kids in USA play organized hockey.  That said, you still have America's most gifted athletes choosing Football, Basketball, or Baseball over hockey... hockey gets the smaller leftover athletes in the USA.

 

liberals play hockey?

[The_People1]

8 minutes ago, jjgallow said:

 

liberals play hockey?

 

Ya man.  OHL produces the best Left Wings.  

[travel_dude]

Zary to make his AHL debut tomorrow night.

Has to be activated and assigned.

[JTech780]

Zary with 2 goals so far tonight. He has been playing much better as of late. 10 points in his last 14 games. I think he has been getting more opportunities lately.

[conundrumed]

6 hours ago, JTech780 said:

Zary with 2 goals so far tonight. He has been playing much better as of late. 10 points in his last 14 games. I think he has been getting more opportunities lately.

Do you know where he is slotted? With Rozie back and Gawdin still around, wonder if that's from 3C.

[JTech780]

On 3/20/2022 at 3:50 AM, conundrumed said:

Do you know where he is slotted? With Rozie back and Gawdin still around, wonder if that's from 3C.

 

[cross16]

Nice bounce back season from Zary who has some good company in this model. 

 

 

[cross16]

Really good season from Connor Zary. He’s also on fire right now with 9pts in 7 games. Doing so without the aid of Phillips or Pelletier

 

back to top prospect territory for Flames 

 

 

[medatswhoP]

https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/nhl-prospect-roundup-calgary-flames-connor-zary-is-electrifying-the-ahl

[jjgallow]

On 10/23/2023 at 1:38 PM, medatswhoP said:

https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/nhl-prospect-roundup-calgary-flames-connor-zary-is-electrifying-the-ahl

 

finally having that start to the season we all hoped for.  I hope he has an incredible year and becomes a full time Flame next season.

[420since1974]

To be fair, I think that mock redrafts aren't that reliable until at least 6 years after the original.

That said, I just watched a 2020 redraft on YouTube by The Hockey Guy.

He has Connor Zary being picked one spot sooner than Calgary actually drafted him.

Full disclosure: THG is a fan of Vancouver, Boston, and Dallas, but he has always had good things to say about Zary.

His belief appears to be that ultimately Zary's NHL career will most likely end up being as a solid 2nd line C/LW, or an extremely great 3rd line C, with an outside chance as a decent 1st line LW.

At this early point in Zary's career, I tend to agree with THG.

[travel_dude]

9 hours ago, 420since1974 said:

To be fair, I think that mock redrafts aren't that reliable until at least 6 years after the original.

That said, I just watched a 2020 redraft on YouTube by The Hockey Guy.

He has Connor Zary being picked one spot sooner than Calgary actually drafted him.

Full disclosure: THG is a fan of Vancouver, Boston, and Dallas, but he has always had good things to say about Zary.

His belief appears to be that ultimately Zary's NHL career will most likely end up being as a solid 2nd line C/LW, or an extremely great 3rd line C, with an outside chance as a decent 1st line LW.

At this early point in Zary's career, I tend to agree with THG.

 

When I saw him play at the WJC, I thought the same.  Ubderused 3rd liner that made his line really good.  Given the players on that team, I figured he would max out at 2C.  Remains to be seen if it's at C, but the sighs and his past experience would suggest that.  He seems to attack from the middle with deft hands.  I like his game right now.

[conundrumed]

On 7/27/2024 at 11:59 AM, travel_dude said:

 

When I saw him play at the WJC, I thought the same.  Ubderused 3rd liner that made his line really good.  Given the players on that team, I figured he would max out at 2C.  Remains to be seen if it's at C, but the sighs and his past experience would suggest that.  He seems to attack from the middle with deft hands.  I like his game right now.

On that team, I thought Zary and Pelletier were the 2 best swiss army knives. Th2 2 you could move around to show off your depth. Pelletier ended up on the top line, but, imo, more to flex the depth on other lines.

Zary was kinda the dog on a pork chop guy. Not the fastest skater, but really forcing the other team into bad decisions. Can still see that in his game. I think him and Sharangovich would be fun together with a puck carrier.

Both players like the puck moving around quickly.

[travel_dude]

5 hours ago, conundrumed said:

On that team, I thought Zary and Pelletier were the 2 best swiss army knives. Th2 2 you could move around to show off your depth. Pelletier ended up on the top line, but, imo, more to flex the depth on other lines.

Zary was kinda the dog on a pork chop guy. Not the fastest skater, but really forcing the other team into bad decisions. Can still see that in his game. I think him and Sharangovich would be fun together with a puck carrier.

Both players like the puck moving around quickly.

 

IIRC, Pelletier had a bad game after he moved up.  In reality, the line was bad not the player.  I hope that Pelts has a good camp and forces the coach to keep him in the top 12.  Not sure what that does to the lineup, but he looked good in his rookie year, just got blamed for more of what the team was doing than individually.  The injury didn't help, as it took him out of contention for a camp to NHL job.

[conundrumed]

13 minutes ago, travel_dude said:

 

IIRC, Pelletier had a bad game after he moved up.  In reality, the line was bad not the player.  I hope that Pelts has a good camp and forces the coach to keep him in the top 12.  Not sure what that does to the lineup, but he looked good in his rookie year, just got blamed for more of what the team was doing than individually.  The injury didn't help, as it took him out of contention for a camp to NHL job.

He's got a great history of always jumping to the next level a bit early. Imo, that speaks to smart and in great shape.

He should have zero problem replacing Mangiapane.

I'm guessing that is exactly the intention.

[travel_dude]

50 minutes ago, conundrumed said:

He's got a great history of always jumping to the next level a bit early. Imo, that speaks to smart and in great shape.

He should have zero problem replacing Mangiapane.

I'm guessing that is exactly the intention.

 

So, Mantha?  Like I said, I have trouble [predicting the lines when you have top talent like Mantha, Kuzmenko, Pospisil and Zary projecting top 9.  

[jjgallow]

On 8/9/2024 at 10:28 AM, travel_dude said:

 

So, Mantha?  Like I said, I have trouble [predicting the lines when you have top talent like Mantha, Kuzmenko, Pospisil and Zary projecting top 9.  

 

maybe more chess to play before season opener.   

 

Zary's developed well

[Thebrewcrew]

I think Zary was the biggest bright spot for the Flames, last season.

 

There's a chance for a sophomore slump. But I think there's a real chance that Zary takes a step in 24/25.

 

34pts in 63 games, .53pt/g. Over an 82 game pace, that 43pts. Can Zary hit 50pts this year? I don't know if a 15+35=50 is too crazy.

[robrob74]

1 hour ago, Thebrewcrew said:

I think Zary was the biggest bright spot for the Flames, last season.

 

There's a chance for a sophomore slump. But I think there's a real chance that Zary takes a step in 24/25.

 

34pts in 63 games, .53pt/g. Over an 82 game pace, that 43pts. Can Zary hit 50pts this year? I don't know if a 15+35=50 is too crazy.

I am not disagreeing with you, and agree great bright spot!

 

I was really excited for both Zary and Pospisil. 
 

I listened to Brett Sutter the other day and he talked about both on Barn Burner video. He talked about how both it was just a matter of time. For Zary it was realizing he could translate his game, as Butter2 saw how the skill with the puck, know when to hold them, do when to fold them, his game is a possession game. 
 

on Posps, he said he was knocking on the door when Dutter was coaching and the only thing that held him back was the injury parade. Butter2 said his dad talked very highly of Posps. 
 

for me, having both those guys in really breathed some good oxygen into the group and changed the aura that surrounded the team. It really speaks to having someone graduating often can spark guys. 
 

how often should the Flames be graduating players? One guy yearly? A guy every other year?

 

i think, every year would be great to have some new rookies. That might be asking a lot, but if you get an NHLer in every draft, it can be done. I get you'll trade a guy away, but maybe I'm getting stingy and frugal and don't wanna trade rookies.

[Thebrewcrew]

22 minutes ago, robrob74 said:

I am not disagreeing with you, and agree great bright spot!

 

I was really excited for both Zary and Pospisil. 
 

I listened to Brett Sutter the other day and he talked about both on Barn Burner video. He talked about how both it was just a matter of time. For Zary it was realizing he could translate his game, as Butter2 saw how the skill with the puck, know when to hold them, do when to fold them, his game is a possession game. 
 

on Posps, he said he was knocking on the door when Dutter was coaching and the only thing that held him back was the injury parade. Butter2 said his dad talked very highly of Posps. 
 

for me, having both those guys in really breathed some good oxygen into the group and changed the aura that surrounded the team. It really speaks to having someone graduating often can spark guys. 
 

how often should the Flames be graduating players? One guy yearly? A guy every other year?

 

i think, every year would be great to have some new rookies. That might be asking a lot, but if you get an NHLer in every draft, it can be done. I get you'll trade a guy away, but maybe I'm getting stingy and frugal and don't wanna trade rookies.

Ideally, I think you want to graduate at least one or two player, each year. It's a fine line though. You don't want to block prospects from the NHL, but you also don't want to give away jobs either. They have to be earned. 

 

I think the graduates this year are pretty obvious, Wolf and probably Pelletier and Coronato, at some point. 

 

Personally, I'm always going to prefer seeing what a young guy can do over a veteran. I would have rather seen more of Gawdin or Phillips than Ritchie. It's been proven that neither are full time NHLers, but that wasn't known at the time. They were very good AHL players. It's nice to see that rewarded. If the young guys can't do it, there are 4th liners on waivers literally every week.

[jjgallow]

On 8/17/2024 at 1:06 PM, Thebrewcrew said:

Ideally, I think you want to graduate at least one or two player, each year. It's a fine line though. You don't want to block prospects from the NHL, but you also don't want to give away jobs either. They have to be earned. 

 

I think the graduates this year are pretty obvious, Wolf and probably Pelletier and Coronato, at some point. 

 

Personally, I'm always going to prefer seeing what a young guy can do over a veteran. I would have rather seen more of Gawdin or Phillips than Ritchie. It's been proven that neither are full time NHLers, but that wasn't known at the time. They were very good AHL players. It's nice to see that rewarded. If the young guys can't do it, there are 4th liners on waivers literally every week.

 

The average NHLer has a 5-year career.   So, you need 20 players every 5 years.

 

That's 4 NHLers every draft lol.   Sounds impossible, but it's not.  It includes guys who only play 1 NHL game.  And there are lots of those.

 

Get away from that, as we did for 6-7 seasons, and bad things start to happen.

 

 

Or you can look at it from what I feel is the more important measure:  core players.    

 

A core player will last on average 10 years.  The better they are the longer on average.    And, you need 10 of them at any given time  (6 forwards, 4 defencemen).    In other words, 1 core player per draft year on average.

 

Get away from this, and terrible things start to happen.

 

 

 

None of the above includes goalies because they mess up the easy numbers LOL

[robrob74]

19 minutes ago, jjgallow said:

 

The average NHLer has a 5-year career.   So, you need 20 players every 5 years.

 

That's 4 NHLers every draft lol.   Sounds impossible, but it's not.  It includes guys who only play 1 NHL game.  And there are lots of those.

 

Get away from that, as we did for 6-7 seasons, and bad things start to happen.

 

 

Or you can look at it from what I feel is the more important measure:  core players.    

 

A core player will last on average 10 years.  The better they are the longer on average.    And, you need 10 of them at any given time  (6 forwards, 4 defencemen).    In other words, 1 core player per draft year on average.

 

Get away from this, and terrible things start to happen.

 

 

 

None of the above includes goalies because they mess up the easy numbers LOL

I see what you mean, how many rookies have we graduated since Mangiapane and Dube arrived? And Bennett. I can't think of anyone else until Zary and Pospisil arrived. Ruzicka was ok, but didn't turn out. There were some, but how many have been mainstays on the team? 

[jjgallow]

30 minutes ago, robrob74 said:

I see what you mean, how many rookies have we graduated since Mangiapane and Dube arrived? And Bennett. I can't think of anyone else until Zary and Pospisil arrived. Ruzicka was ok, but didn't turn out. There were some, but how many have been mainstays on the team? 

 

Yeah.  It gets very murky, especially with any finger pointing which I have been guilty of.  Many factors.   But, the biggest factors is we traded away too many of our picks.   Double-edged sword.  You don't get your picks, and your place in the standings is artificially and temporarily elevated.  So the picks you do have are worse.

 

   Drafting and development is hotly contested but I will say this was also an issue (although it did get better, for sure).    I will even go as far as to say Conroy's first drafting year was not great.   But, by 2024 imho he had it completely turned around.

 

i really don't see much coming out of 22 or 23, although of course I expect Honzek to be an NHLer to some degree.    2021's got a bit of hope in it, I guess we'll find out soon.    And I think 2024 was huge for us.   Surely some busts, but...again.   come of of the draft with 2 core players, that's big.

 

Zary really turned things around and has done much better than I expected.   Fingers crossed he can make a big jump this year

[conundrumed]

Are those thighs or oak tree trunks?