Could the Oilers Be Interested in Connor Zary?

Connor Zary being placed on waivers by the Calgary Flames caught my attention. Not because I think the Edmonton Oilers should automatically claim him. I'm not sure they should. But this is one of those moves where you have to stop for a second and ask: What happened here?

Zary was once an up-and-comer. Could he get there again?

Zary is only 25. He was a first-round pick, 24th overall, in 2020. He's played 193 NHL games and has 39 goals and 87 points. His best season was his first full one in 2023-24, when he had 14 goals and 34 points in 63 games. Since then, the numbers have gone the wrong way: 27 points in 54 games in 2024-25 and 25 points in 74 games last season. He has also had to deal with a couple of serious knee injuries.

So this isn't a player who suddenly forgot how to play hockey. It's a player who hasn't developed the way Calgary hoped. And that matters. Zary was scratched against Vancouver after the Flames' ugly start, with coach Ryan Huska talking about the importance of taking care of the puck. The Flames waived him on Monday.

Maybe Calgary simply decided that Zary wasn't going to be a regular top-nine player anymore. That's a reasonable hockey decision. It also creates an interesting opportunity for somebody else.

The Oilers are rumoured to be looking for a depth forward.

The Edmonton Oilers are already looking for forward depth. With several forwards injured, Elliotte Friedman reported that Edmonton has explored a “lateral” trade, potentially moving a defenceman for a forward. So would Zary make sense? Maybe.

But here's where I get stuck. If Edmonton is looking for somebody to help right now, why not just sign Michael Bunting? That's the part of this that interests me. Zary is the younger reclamation project. Bunting is the more obvious hockey player if the Oilers want someone they know and can plug into a lineup.

Zary might have more upside. Bunting might have more certainty. And maybe that's the real question for Edmonton.

Do you use your defensive depth to make the lateral trade Friedman mentioned? Do you take a chance on Zary if he clears? Or do you find the safer answer in somebody like Bunting?

Zary or Bunting: Which player makes the most sense for the Oilers?

I'm not sure there's a wrong answer. But I do know this: a 25-year-old former first-round pick with 193 NHL games doesn't suddenly become an uninteresting player because his original team has run out of patience. Sometimes another team's discarded player is exactly what a team needs.

And sometimes he's simply a player another team has already figured out.