Prospect Info: 2024 Draft, 9th Overall, Zayne Parekh

[Yepthatsme]

So your solution is waste another year in the OHL? He's not learning anything there. Playing him with Weegar would be the best way to shelter him and for him to learn defense

Having him annihilate his competition >>>> having him get annihilated by his competition. He can learn defensive play and how to produce while taking less risks, all having him get dominated will do is ruin his confidence and make him try to play the game a way we don’t want him too.

Like this isn’t even close, all we would be asking for is him to try and change his game before inevitably getting injured

 

[Lunatik]

It's a really dumb rule that he can't play in the AHL next season. For these lower affiliated leagues what's best for the player should be coming first, always.

Like imagine if he actually scores 100pts this season and his next move as a skinny 19 year old dman is either the NHL or CHL.

Is Europe an option? If allowed and he and the team are willing the SHL or Liiga would give him improved competition.

 

[crackdown44]

It's a really dumb rule that he can't play in the AHL next season. For these lower affiliated leagues what's best for the player should be coming first, always.

Like imagine if he actually scores 100pts this season and his next move as a skinny 19 year old dman is either the NHL or CHL.

I expect that this will eventually change with the new NCAA stuff since guys that go NCAA can go pro whenever

 

[Figgy44]

Is Europe an option? If allowed and he and the team are willing the SHL or Liiga would give him improved competition.

At that point, give him 9 games on the Flames and then tell him to go back to junior and dominate while working in a skill he'd definitely be unable to work on against higher quality competition.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Europe is interesting. I think SHL and Liiga still have bigger ice though. I think the DEL or Swiss league would probably be best. No guarantee of ice time though.

Play him 9 games. Play him a ton in the pre-season. Hopefully Canada doesn’t galaxy brain their roster and they bring him (and Mews for that matter)

 

[Bounces R Way]

Is Europe an option? If allowed and he and the team are willing the SHL or Liiga would give him improved competition.

I actually don't think it is, it's my understanding that the NHL-CHL transfer agreement stipulates he has to return to his CHL club if not in the NHL next season since he was drafted from the CHL. I don't think he can play in the AHL or any other pro league anywhere. Could be wrong about that, maybe it's been amended but I'm pretty sure that's the way it was anyway.

Not sure of the transfer agreements between the NHL and SHL or Liiga, usually they have a special kind of contract for junior aged players that allow them to play separately from their pro ELC contract. But in most of those cases the SHL and Liiga clubs have owned their rights longer than the NHL team.

I think the case is different for the Swiss NLA where it's easier to negotiate a loan of a player. That would probably be his best route Europe wise if they did find a way to make it work because SHL and Liiga typically don't play their younger players substantial ice time. On one hand it could make for a very difficult transition being away from family and friends in a new country with a new language(s) with new teammates. On the other maybe it humbles him a bit and he can just focus on the hockey portion of his development rather than being Major Junior All Star big deal in Saginaw guy.

I expect that this will eventually change with the new NCAA stuff since guys that go NCAA can go pro whenever

Yeah that's going to be a blow to the CHL for sure. Go get a free education, be a hotshot student athlete with all the girls on campus, play and train in state of the art facilities and dedicated coaching where you play half the amount of games or spend your last teenage years riding a rickety old bus to Flin Flon MB to play in front of 400 half comatose fans.

I suspect they're going to have to rethink a lot of these things fairly sharpish.

 

[crackdown44]

I actually don't think it is, it's my understanding that the NHL-CHL transfer agreement stipulates he has to return to his CHL club if not in the NHL next season since he was drafted from the CHL. I don't think he can play in the AHL or any other pro league anywhere. Could be wrong about that, maybe it's been amended but I'm pretty sure that's the way it was anyway.

Not sure of the transfer agreements between the NHL and SHL or Liiga, usually they have a special kind of contract for junior aged players that allow them to play separately from their pro ELC contract. But in most of those cases the SHL and Liiga clubs have owned their rights longer than the NHL team.

I think the case is different for the Swiss NLA where it's easier to negotiate a loan of a player. That would probably be his best route Europe wise if they did find a way to make it work because SHL and Liiga typically don't play their younger players substantial ice time. On one hand it could make for a very difficult transition being away from family and friends in a new country with a new language(s) with new teammates. On the other maybe it humbles him a bit and he can just focus on the hockey portion of his development rather than being Major Junior All Star big deal in Saginaw guy.



Yeah that's going to be a blow to the CHL for sure. Go get a free education, be a hotshot student athlete with all the girls on campus, play and train in state of the art facilities and dedicated coaching where you play half the amount of games or spend your last teenage years riding a rickety old bus to Flin Flon MB to play in front of 400 half comatose fans.

I suspect they're going to have to rethink a lot of these things fairly sharpish.

Yeah it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. The BCHL got absolutely merked when it happened, right after the top AJ teams had agreed to join too lol

I imagine long term it means the CHL will be the top league for like 16-17-18 year olds and then the top guys will go play a year or two in the NCAA then go pro or finish their degree depending on how good they are

The league that this really kills is Usports. I already know a lot of guys that likely would have never gotten a degree if they weren’t good at hockey but they’ll have to lower their academic standards even more if they want to be able to attract any high level guys to Canadian universities now

 

[Ledge And Dairy]

Having him annihilate his competition >>>> having him get annihilated by his competition. He can learn defensive play and how to produce while taking less risks, all having him get dominated will do is ruin his confidence and make him try to play the game a way we don’t want him too.

Like this isn’t even close, all we would be asking for is him to try and change his game before inevitably getting injured

I think this post is very indicative of where you view him as a player vs me. I look at a player like Lane Hutson, how he has played this season with someone as useless as Mike Matheson on his pair, how he's only 1 year older than Zayne, and think "why can't Zayne do even half of that with a vastly stronger partner in Weegar?" Calgary has a far superior supporting crew for Parekh to walk into than Hutson has in Montreal and I think Parekh is definitely the higher potential player.

I get that if he has a bad camp then sure but if he has even a half decent camp then absolutely give him at least a few games to see if he can handle it. His camp this summer was fairly pedestrian but I can't imagine he will come into the next one the exact same.

 

[Darth Vladar]

I think this post is very indicative of where you view him as a player vs me. I look at a player like Lane Hutson, how he has played this season with someone as useless as Mike Matheson on his pair, how he's only 1 year older than Zayne, and think "why can't Zayne do even half of that with a vastly stronger partner in Weegar?" Calgary has a far superior supporting crew for Parekh to walk into than Hutson has in Montreal and I think Parekh is definitely the higher potential player.

I get that if he has a bad camp then sure but if he has even a half decent camp then absolutely give him at least a few games to see if he can handle it. His camp this summer was fairly pedestrian but I can't imagine he will come into the next one the exact same.

They’re actually two years apart, almost to the day in fact. But your point still stands. Zayne’s 20-year old season would be after he’d played a season with the Wranglers.

 

[Ledge And Dairy]

They’re actually two years apart, almost to the day in fact. But your point still stands. Zayne’s 20-year old season would be after he’d played a season with the Wranglers.

Sorry I should have clarified I meant Zayne would be entering only 1 year younger

 

[Rubi]

Parekh had a hot month... Named OHL defenseman of the month

 

[Volica]

Pretty clear he’s going to be in the NHL at least for a 9 game stint next year.

We could really use the creativity.

 

[Kingpin794]

He’s trying to make me wrong. 4 point night and he’s officially back on pace for 100. Can he do it?

 

[Darth Vladar]

He’s trying to make me wrong. 4 point night and he’s officially back on pace for 100. Can he do it? View attachment 971197

If only to spite you lol

 

[Yepthatsme]

He’s trying to make me wrong. 4 point night and he’s officially back on pace for 100. Can he do it? View attachment 971197

At this point he would need to slow down not too. He needs to maintain his season pace of 1.59 point per game to do it. But over his last 30 games he’s been at a 1.77 point per game pace. At this point it’s hardly a question of if he makes it but how much he passes it by, unless he crashes down from this tear he’s on hard.

 

[Siignal]

Despite how incredible last year's draft class has been, and 9th is a reasonable place to take him, Parekh has me excited like he was a top 3 pick. In all my time watching the Flames, we have never had such a skilled blueliner. He looks like the kind of player who will take some adjustment to the NHL but could end up near-ppg or above fairly easily. Incredible skating and stickhandling, beautiful and deceptive shot, and can thread the needle in tight.

That, and he is a jimmy rustler with a high compete level AND an explicit desire to be the face of the organization while seemingly being an intelligent, down-to-earth guy?

I was excited for Monahan, I was excited for Tkachuk, I was very excited for Gaudreau, but I'm ruthlessly excited for Parekh.

Inject it into my veins.

 

[FLAMESFAN]

Crazy to think he started the year at 15 games & 15 points.
Just being PPG seems really disappointing, lol

Is there no way he can play AHL nextyear?

 

[Ace Rimmer]

Crazy to think he started the year at 15 games & 15 points.
Just being PPG seems really disappointing, lol

Is there no way he can play AHL nextyear?

Fairly certain that he can be assigned to the AHL only after Saginaw's season ends.

 

[joescores]

He’s trying to make me wrong. 4 point night and he’s officially back on pace for 100. Can he do it? View attachment 971197

Stop asking that question..... No point.

 

[MrCreamm]

Despite how incredible last year's draft class has been, and 9th is a reasonable place to take him, Parekh has me excited like he was a top 3 pick. In all my time watching the Flames, we have never had such a skilled blueliner. He looks like the kind of player who will take some adjustment to the NHL but could end up near-ppg or above fairly easily. Incredible skating and stickhandling, beautiful and deceptive shot, and can thread the needle in tight.

That, and he is a jimmy rustler with a high compete level AND an explicit desire to be the face of the organization while seemingly being an intelligent, down-to-earth guy?

I was excited for Monahan, I was excited for Tkachuk, I was very excited for Gaudreau, but I'm ruthlessly excited for Parekh.

Inject it into my veins.

I agree, Parekh is one of the very few players the Flames have drafted that I have believed they have the change to be truly elite.

Gaudreau after his Hobey Baker season had me very hyped.

Tkachuk had me pretty excited but honestly didn't know if his speed would stop him from being elite.

Sadly I was a Sam Bennett believer and thought in 2014 we had our 1C, also his rookie season was very encouraging, oh how it all went wrong...

Monahan I was excited for but his style of play wasn't very dynamic, fast paced, or creative.

Parekh has speed, vision, creativity and I don't think anyone else drafted behind him has the same upside. I guess Buim is more surefire but I still take Parekh, this franchise needs a defender who can do it himself.

Id say this is the greatest draft pick the Flames have made since Wolf and that probably sounds hyperbolic considering the hype for Parekh at the start/end of 2023/24 but it's not hard to imagine Conroy drafting Dickinson, Buim, Silayev.

 

[Darth Vladar]

I agree, Parekh is one of the very few players the Flames have drafted that I have believed they have the change to be truly elite.

Gaudreau after his Hobey Baker season had me very hyped.

Tkachuk had me pretty excited but honestly didn't know if his speed would stop him from being elite.

Sadly I was a Sam Bennett believer and thought in 2014 we had our 1C, also his rookie season was very encouraging, oh how it all went wrong...

Monahan I was excited for but his style of play wasn't very dynamic, fast paced, or creative.

Parekh has speed, vision, creativity and I don't think anyone else drafted behind him has the same upside. I guess Buim is more surefire but I still take Parekh, this franchise needs a defender who can do it himself.

Id say this is the greatest draft pick the Flames have made since Wolf and that probably sounds hyperbolic considering the hype for Parekh at the start/end of 2023/24 but it's not hard to imagine Conroy drafting Dickinson, Buim, Silayev.

The only reason I wasn’t too gutted we didn’t get Tij was that we still got Zayne

 

[Khrox]

it's not hard to imagine Conroy drafting Dickinson, Buim, Silayev.

I was all aboard the Silayev hype train. Still am honestly, but even during training camp I was less upset after seeing Parekh with the guys. I'm convinced we made the right pick, but man I still dream about Silayev on the team.

 

[Yepthatsme]

The only reason I wasn’t too gutted we didn’t get Tij was that we still got Zayne

I unironically believe Parekh will year over year out produce Iginla. Iginla’s ceiling looks like a 60-70 point guy who coaches love because he does everything right. Parekh’s true ceiling is point per game plus, although I think a reasonable outcome is a year in year out out 60-70 point guy. I usually dislike defenseman with Parekh’s profile but his offensive upside is insane. Since the calendar flipped he has 8 multi point efforts, meaning in 66% of his games he gets 2+ points.

I was all aboard the Silayev hype train. Still am honestly, but even during training camp I was less upset after seeing Parekh with the guys. I'm convinced we made the right pick, but man I still dream about Silayev on the team.

I would sell everything but the kitchen sink for Silayev, I still believe he has Ryan Suter upside. He would perfect our young defense pool with a core of:

Silayev-Parekh
Bahl-Brzustewicz
Kuznetsov-Mews

A bunch of high end defenders paired with high ceiling offensive defenseman. My dream would be Backlund retained, Coleman, and a pick for Silayev+.

 

[Darth Vladar]

I unironically believe Parekh will year over year out produce Iginla. Iginla’s ceiling looks like a 60-70 point guy who coaches love because he does everything right. Parekh’s true ceiling is point per game plus, although I think a reasonable outcome is a year in year out out 60-70 point guy. I usually dislike defenseman with Parekh’s profile but his offensive upside is insane. Since the calendar flipped he has 8 multi point efforts, meaning in 66% of his games he gets 2+ points.

I would sell everything but the kitchen sink for Silayev, I still believe he has Ryan Suter upside. He would perfect our young defense pool with a core of:

Silayev-Parekh
Bahl-Brzustewicz
Kuznetsov-Mews

A bunch of high end defenders paired with high ceiling offensive defenseman. My dream would be Backlund retained, Coleman, and a pick for Silayev+.

While I love your proposed d corps, the thought that a soon to be 36 year old Backlund and/or 33 year old Coleman have that kind of value to any GM, let alone for Silayev, is exactly that: a dream. It would take Razzy and a 1st just to get Fitzgerald to answer the phone lol

 

[Khrox]

It would take Razzy and a 1st just to get Fitzgerald to answer the phone lol

I would honestly consider that though. I know it probably wouldn't be the right call (losing one of our only legitimate defenders on the team for the immediate future) but god damn would I love Silayev.