Flames Place Connor Zary, Brayden Pachal On Waivers

The Calgary Flames have placed a few interesting players on waivers this afternoon. According to radio host Pat Steinberg, the Flames have placed forward Connor Zary and defenseman Brayden Pachal on waivers. Teams will have 24 hours to submit a claim for either player.

It’s an unsurprising update for Zary. After a strong rookie season in 2023-24, when he scored 14 goals and totaled 34 points in 63 games with a +12 rating, Zary has not made significant progress since. Although injuries have negatively impacted his development, Zary has scored 25 goals and 53 points in 130 games since, good for 16 goals and 34 points on an 82-game average. Despite being in a rebuild, the Flames don’t have the patience for that kind of plateauing.

Simply put, he’s in a weird spot. Zary doesn’t score enough to warrant a consistent role in Calgary’s top six, nor is he good enough defensively for a bottom-six role. While he’s not the worst defensive forward on the team, he hasn’t developed into the scorer the Flames expected when they drafted him 24th overall in the 2020 NHL Draft.

This past summer, since Calgary was at a loss as to how to deploy Zary last season, the Flames began exploring trade options in late June. According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, Calgary made Zary available on the trade market and was reportedly seeking a second-round pick for his services. Obviously, no team went for the bait, and the Flames are now in a position to lose him for nothing.

Although he could thrive in a different environment, the odds aren’t high that Zary is claimed. He is owed a yearly salary of $3.775MM through next season, and currently, only 12 teams could absorb that amount outright. Of those 12 clubs, only the Carolina Hurricanes and Toronto Maple Leafs have less than a full roster, and neither of them has an obvious need for Zary. Still, offensive-needy teams such as the Detroit Red Wings, Seattle Kraken, or Vancouver Canucks could place a claim on him and send down one of their younger players who could use more seasoning in the minors.

Meanwhile, Pachal has a completely different archetype compared to Zary. The right-handed defenseman plays a defense-first, physical game and offers very little offensive upside. Despite making the Flames’ opening-night roster, he has not appeared in a game this season. He’s projected to become an unrestricted free agent next summer and has a $1.1875MM salary through the end of this season.