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Connor Zary, Calgary Flames (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

NHL Gets it Wrong on Suspension for Flames’ Connor Zary

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Rupert McDonald | Last updated Mar 15, 2025 8:35 AM ET

At the time, it was only assessed a two-minute minor. Nobody in the Saddledome seemed to initially think a whole lot of Connor Zary’s retaliatory hit on Elias Pettersson during Wednesday’s game between the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks. Once replays hit TVs and made their way around social media, however, it was clear that the hit was much worse than it appeared in real time.

Zary was sticking up for his teammate, Nazem Kadri, who was crushed with a clean, open-ice hit just after he had skated into the Canucks zone. As any good teammate would do, Zary stepped in to defend his teammate, though his reaction in doing so was out of line and warranted the penalty he was assessed, if not a five-minute major. While no doubt a dangerous play, the ruling handed to him on Thursday by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety was the wrong decision.

Zary Not a Dirty Player

Zary certainly isn’t a soft type of player. He doesn’t back down from physicality and doesn’t play a perimeter game in any sense. That said, he’s not known for dishing out a ton of punishment, and by no means plays over the line. In fact, this was his first time getting any sort of discipline from the NHL’s DoPS.

Past discipline plays a large part in the length of suspensions. Repeat offenders often get harsher punishment than players who have a clean book like Zary. That makes the decision by the NHL’s DoPS to hand him two games an extremely confusing one.

Though Zary did ride up and make contact with Pettersson’s head, he didn’t go flying in with a blatant elbow or have his hands up high. Instead, he hit a player who was already down on his knees from his prior collision with Kadri. This gave Zary almost zero room for error. Making contact with his head as he did was incidental.

What makes it all the more confusing is that players with much longer rap sheets have gotten off easier than Zary. Take Matt Rempe, for example, who delivered a forearm shiver to the head of Nashville Predators’ defenceman Nick Blankenburg. The Preds blueliner immediately hit the ice in clear discomfort, and Rempe was assessed a two-minute minor on the play. Despite what appeared to be a clear head shot, however, Rempe (who has a long rap sheet) did not receive any form of supplemental discipline.

NHL Suspensions Wildly Inconsistent

When discussing whether or not Zary would be suspended for his hit on Pettersson, the Sportsnet panel seemed to be quite divided, which sums up how fans feel as well. Trying to predict NHL suspensions has become a nearly impossible task, as there seems to be zero consistencies in the rulings.

If they believe the right decision was to hand Zary two games, then so be it. Given his lack of discipline to this point in his career, one game maximum would have been a seemingly fair punishment. Instead, however, they seemed to have a completely different idea than the on-ice official on the apparent severity of the matter. It’s quite a puzzling decision, but one that the Flames are going to have to live with.

Flames Need Others to Step Up

Zary’s suspension comes at the worst time possible, as Mikael Backlund was injured early into the Canucks game and is now being deemed week-to-week with an upper-body injury. The Flames were forced to recall Dryden Hunt from the Calgary Wranglers as a result and will be playing Yegor Sharangovich down the middle of the ice for the time being. Had Zary not been suspended, he likely would have been the one playing centre in the absence of the Flames captain.