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Friedman: Canucks ‘considering’ a trade for Flames forward Conor Zary

Photo credit: USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

By David Quadrelli

Oct 10, 2026, 22:41 EDT

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According to NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman, the Vancouver Canucks are considering a trade for Calgary Flames forward Conor Zary.

Here’s exactly what Friedman said about the Flames forward, who was put on waivers earlier this week and assigned to AHL Stockton:

“Last night, Connor Zary returned to the American Hockey League, scored, after clearing waivers, in his first game. I don’t get the sense anything is imminent right now. The Flames only have one retention spot available and they don’t want to retain money, so it’s probably going to take something creative. But I do think Vancouver is one of the teams that has looked at Zary. I think there’s a few more, obviously, but I’ve heard the Canucks are one of the teams that are considering it and it makes sense.”

Friedman’s wording suggests the Flames would have to take back some money or attach an asset to Zary to make a trade work. After all, the Canucks — and 30 other NHL teams — had the opportunity to add Zary for free via waivers, and nobody wanted to do it, presumably because they’d be taking Zary’s contract on in full.

Zary is in year two of a three-year deal he signed with the Flames, which sees him earn an average annual value of $3.775 million. That contract was signed after Zary’s entry-level contract with the Flames expired. In his first two NHL seasons, Zary showed some promise as a young middle six forward. Through 63 games in his rookie season, Zary scored 14 goals and added 20 assists. The following season, in 2024-25, he put up 27 points through 54 NHL games.

In the back half of that season, however, Zary suffered multiple knee injuries. After he returned, his speed, skill, and elusiveness seemed diminished, and he arguably hasn’t been quite the same on the ice since.

The Flames have already retained on the Nazem Kadri and Blake Coleman trades, so they have one more retention slot available to them. It’s reasonable to suspect that the Flames would prefer to keep that retention slot available to them and not use it on a Zary trade. Zary, 25, was the Flames’ 24th overall selection at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft.

Do you want to see the Canucks trade for Conor Zary? Let us know in the comments section below! We dove into Zary’s game and his potential fit on the Canucks earlier this week, and you can read that by clicking below!