Zayne Parekh will be back in the lineup Sunday, squashing speculation that the Calgary Flames might be poised to return the 19-year-old defenceman to the Ontario Hockey League.
This will be Game 10 for Parekh on the season, which means that the 2025-26 campaign will count as the first year of his entry-level contract.
Typically, if a team is going to reassign one of their top prospects to the junior ranks, they’ll do it before that trigger.
Parekh has been scratched for the past two games, in part because of a minor injury but also because Flames management debated whether to keep him on the NHL roster. The majority of fans will be relieved to hear that the rookie blue-liner is sticking around and will be back in action for Sunday’s showdown with the Flyers in Philadelphia (5 p.m. MT, Sportsnet West/Sportsnet 960 The Fan).
While Parekh hasn’t had the immediate offensive impact that some were anticipating, with only one assist so far, the ninth-overall pick from the 2024 NHL Draft is starting to look more and more comfortable at the highest level.
Even with the Flames sitting in dead last after a dreadful a 2-9-2 start, it never seemed to make a whole lot of sense to return this up-and-coming righty to the OHL, where he racked up 33 goals and 107 points in 61 outings last season on behalf of the Saginaw Spirit.
It’s still possible that he rejoins the Spirit sometime this winter, with the attention turning to the 40-game mark, when he would accrue a year of ‘service time,’ which determines when he would eventually be eligible for unrestricted free agency.
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“I’m just going to keep playing and see how it goes, and they can kind of figure out what they want to do with my development plan,” Parekh told Postmedia before the Flames departed on this road trip. “I just have to put my best foot forward and try to play my best game. Honestly, I haven’t really thought about the nine games. I just try to improve every game.”
Connor Zary will also be back in the Flames’ lineup against the Flyers.
The 24-year-old forward has, like Parekh, watched two in a row.
“I just want to see them do the things that they are capable of doing,” Flames head coach Ryan Huska told reporters Sunday in Philly. “Connor is going to get an opportunity to play with Naz (Nazem Kadri) tonight, so we can hopefully see some of that chemistry that they had a few years back and see if they can rekindle a little bit of that.
“With Zayne, it’s really the puck movement. Just move the puck, make sure you’re comfortable and confident in his ability to do that.”