Shortly after the Calgary Flames selected Zayne Parekh with the ninth-overall pick of the NHL draft last June, they sat down with him to study clips of Cale Makar.
Makes sense, right? Parekh has high-end skills and the ability to create offence from the blueline, so why not do a deep-dive into the Colorado Avalanche superstar’s game? He’s probably the best in the world at doing exactly the sort of things that could make Parekh special.
Except the Flames didn’t show the 18-year-old a highlight reel of Makar’s most dazzling plays. It was other areas of his game they wanted Parekh to consider.
“Specifically with Cale, it was about killing plays first,” Flames director of player development Ray Edwards said. “What I was trying to show him was one of the best offensive players in the world, how committed he was to killing plays and using his stick and using his feet to defend, using his feet and his body to get into good position to stop plays and then go north, as opposed to cheating on the wrong side of the puck and hoping you kill it.”
Speaking with Parekh, it’s pretty obvious the message resonated.
When he was drafted, much of the public focus was rightfully on the numbers he had put up last year with the Saginaw Spirit in the OHL and then through the playoff on their way to winning the Memorial Cup.
Parekh led all defencemen in the CHL with 96 points in 66 regular-season games. His smooth skating and dynamic playmaking are what separate him from the pack. They’re what catch your eye when you watch him play.
And after a red-hot January that saw him named the OHL’s defenceman of the month after scoring 11 goals and adding 10 assists in 10 games, he’s currently on pace for an even higher points-total than he was last year.
He has 68 points in 43 games, tops in the CHL among blueliners again, and yet, he almost downplays his production in an interview with Postmedia this week.
“I mean, it doesn’t matter how many points I score this year, really,” Parekh said. “If I score 100 or 200, it’s not going to put me in the NHL, as long as I continue to get better away from the puck and continue to improve my decision-making, those are the biggest things that are going to help me when I try to make the jump.
“I’d love to lead the CHL again in scoring, that just kind of shows to people that I’m a very capable offensive defenceman and I can put the puck in the net when I need to, but from a development standpoint and trying to set me up to play in the NHL next year, it’s kind of doing the little things and rounding all the other stuff.”
That’s where watching a player like Makar is useful.
It’s probably not fair to place the burden of being compared to the Avs star on Parekh’s young shoulders just yet, but there are lots of things a young offensively minded defenceman like Parekh can learn from the Calgary native, who was in town Thursday night with the Avs for a game against the Flames at the Saddledome.
Because while Makar’s mind-boggling numbers make headlines, his work in the defensive end is rarely sacrificed in the name of creating offence.
His plus/minus always has been double-digits above zero during his time in the NHL and he is hyper-intelligent in the way he picks his moments.
“Him and Quinn Hughes are kind of the players you want to replicate, if possible, because they’re the best at what they do and they also do special things away from the puck, too,” Parekh said. “It was more Makar we were watching and just how he works with his stick.”
The Flames don’t feel like Parekh is the type of blueliner who ignores his defensive responsibilities to get involved on offence. Far from it, actually. Edwards was quick to point out that Parekh’s defensive numbers and analytics always have been very strong.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t work to be done. Parekh himself has admitted that his first NHL training camp last September was a humbling experience. The speed of the game and the size and strength of NHLers is an adjustment for any young defenceman and it showed Parekh just how far there was to go in his development before he was ready to compete.
That is a good thing, though. Every team wants their prospects to understand the standard as early as possible and then get to work trying to meet it.
“I think it was a really good learning experience for Zayne,” Edwards explained. “I think when he went back the focus for us is always for young defencemen, a big part of it is playing better without the puck and your gaps and your one-on-one battles and your stick and box-outs and all the stuff without the puck, and that’s all really important, but Zayne’s always been pretty good at that.”
Good, but working on being better.
Parekh may have found his first NHL training camp humbling, but he has no intention of feeling the same way coming out of his second.
Having signed an NHL contract in the fall and set to turn 19 years old on Feb. 15, Parekh has no intention of returning to the OHL for another year of junior this coming fall.
His goal is to be with the Flames next season, plain and simple.
“It’s going to be really tough, I think,” Parekh said. “I expected to come back to junior for one year this summer and that’s what ended up happening, but next summer coming up the goal is going to be to start in the NHL and see how long I can stay.”
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