Flames Calder candidate had a brief showing in the middle but for now, team should stick with what's been successful for young forward

Putting Connor Zary at centre stage did not last very long for the Calgary Flames this week.

The team knew its depth would suffer by trading former Selke finalist Elias Lindholm, but there is a delicate balance when it comes to pushing young players to centre ice too soon.

Trying to force a 22-year-old NHLer into one of the toughest positions to play in the world’s top league, and you might ruin his confidence, and his future, as a pivot. 

During Monday’s matinee victory over the Winnipeg Jets, Zary started at centre before quickly being returned to his more comfortable position on the wing. He’s thrived beside Nazem Kadri and opposite Martin Pospisil all season, earning a dozen goals and 26 points in 46 games so far. Zary is consistently in the top five in rookie scoring and just shy of third spot ahead of Thursday’s game against the Boston Bruins.

Even though his transition to the middle is something the Calgary Flames want to see happening in the longer-term, they don’t want to rush their promising Young prospect into that role without more support.
Organizationally, the centre position is a huge red flag right now.

The Flames brought in Kadri two summers ago to create a competitive top three along with Lindholm and Mikael Backlund, but when things went awry last season and contract negotiations with Lindholm, went nowhere, plans changed and GM Craig Conroy has to focus on younger talent and draft picks while making a dent at the trade deadline this season.

Whether it comes in a Chris Tanev deal, or a package for Noah Hanifin, you can bet a young centre or two in the Yegor Sharangovich mould will be a major focus for a return, and in this summer’s entry draft as well.

Zary is easily the team’s most valuable prospect at the position at the moment, although he’s graduated at this point since he could be a finalist for the Calder as rookie of the year.

With Backlund and Kadri both well into their 30s and not much in the pipeline behind Zary, it’s tough to imagine what the middle of the Flames lineup will look like in a few years without some big additions. None of the prospects outside of maybe 19-year-old Samuel Honzek — who’s a few years behind Zary in development — show promise of being top six forwards in the NHL.

Out of necessity, Sharangovich has had to play primarily between Jonathan Huberdeau and Alexei Kuzmenmo, but that trio isn’t good enough at the faceoff circles to be consistently dangerous - hence the attempt to move Zary to the middle.

Despite remaining relatively competitive since the all-star break, the Flames just don’t have the depth to compete even if they somehow sneak into a wildcard spot.

And the worst thing they could do right now is rush Zary into the centre spot trying to make that happen.