“New or unconventional connection”

related but not identical.

New

A connection that has not previously been made.

Unconventional

A connection that may have been made before but is unusual or outside the dominant approach.

For example:

Connecting abolition to capitalist labor markets might be new in a particular literature if nobody has previously made the connection there.

But if Marxist, institutional, and economic historians have already discussed it, your connection might not be new; it could nevertheless be unconventional within a particular school of historical writing.

So:

new is not unconventional

although they can overlap.