Calgary Flames and Zary struggling to find common ground on contract extension
We are less than a week away from September, and the Calgary Flames have yet to sign Connor Zary to a contract extension.
The 23-year-old is coming off what was a rather frustrating third professional season of his career, as he was limited to just 57 games as a result of two separate knee injuries suffered during the 2025-26 campaign. Over that span, he had 13 goals and 27 points.
The Flames entered the offseason with three other pending RFAs up front in Matt Coronato, Morgan Frost, and Adam Klapka. They got Coronato’s extension out of the way quickly, signing him to a seven-year, $45.5-million deal. Klapka received a two-year extension shortly after, as did Frost. Zary, however, has continued to wait in limbo.
There had been reports earlier in the offseason that Zary’s camp was seeking a long-term deal, though Flames management seemed hesitant to do so, preferring to go the bridge-deal route. Based on a recent update from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, it sounds as though the two sides continue to remain apart in ongoing extension talks.
“I’ve just heard that the two sides have been apart,” Friedman said on the latest 32 Thoughts podcast. “I don’t think this is a situation where the Flames don’t like the player, or the player doesn’t like the Flames. I’ve just heard it’s a disagreement on, ‘Hey, if the term is X, this is what we think the number should be.’
“The good news is that it’s starting to pick up. Business is starting to pick up. It’s been a slow summer, business is starting to pick up, but I just think right now it’s a difference of opinion.”
It’s never ideal to have a player miss training camp, which is certainly at risk if this continues much longer. The good news, however, is that GM Craig Conroy seemed quite optimistic about the two sides working out a deal in a late July interview. Flames fans are certainly hoping that’s the case, as Zary is viewed as a big piece of this franchise moving forward.