3. Connor Zary
On paper, Connor Zary is everything the Calgary Flames have needed for their future, but over the past three years, he's struggled to stay healthy consistently, and as a result, he's yet to lock down a role up front for Calgary. That's led to plenty of frustration, and as recently reported by Anthony Di Marco, there's been questions about his future with the Flames, as he has potentially grown unhappy within the organization.
On one side, the Flames could use this opportunity to move Zary into a more important role down the middle, but as of right now, they've shown no confidence in him as a full-time centre at the NHL level. On top of that, the Flames forward group is an absolute logjam, with things only going to get worse over the next 18 months with the arrival of Cole Reschny, Ethan Wyttenbach, Andrew Basha and Cullen Potter among others.
Ultimately, that means the most obvious outcome is to deal Zary, and while they should move him before the season begins on the back of 25 points in 2025/26, it's likely that they'll take this one through to the deadline to give him one last chance to prove his worth.
Prediction: The Flames will keep Zary through until the trade deadline and decide then, but should deal him in the summer.
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