A look at how Zayne Parekh may place in the Calder Trophy race this upcoming season

The start of the 2025–26 season is right around the corner with training camp. As the Calgary Flames continue to push their youth movement, many prospects will attempt to push for roster spots. At the top of those prospects for the Flames is obviously Zayne Parekh. With his dominance in the OHL the prior two seasons and no AHL option, it almost seems like a lock that Parekh will spend the next season with the Flames.

With his talents, Parekh fills a hole on the Flames’ back-end as an offensive weapon. The type of player that will quarterback one of the two power plays and drive a majority of the offence from the defensive core. Opportunity awaits Parekh, but how it is displayed to him in his first season will impact his spot in the Calder Trophy race.

How Parekh could be used in his rookie season

It’s never ideal to play a defenceman in the NHL when he’s 19 years old. However, that will likely be the case for Parekh and the Flames this season. Even with Parekh’s talent, you never want to throw your young player to the wolves. Usually, teams tend to shelter their younger defencemen to avoid, but sometimes the talent flashes too much to ignore. With the situation that is arising, there are quite a few different ways that the Flames may deploy Parekh this season.

Sheltered role

As it currently sits, the Flames’ right side includes MacKenzie Weegar, Rasmus Andersson, and Brayden Pachal. Parekh could easily take away Pachal’s spot on the third pair, but after that, some difficulty might come. Weegar and Andersson are experienced top-four defencemen. They’re not typically the types of players that rookies play over.

With the current top-two right-handed defencemen, we could see Parekh serve a limited role for his rookie year. Third pair minutes with a more defensive-minded partner, plus some time on the second power play. This would be a pretty simple way of easing him into the NHL while playing into his strengths. He might not absolutely light the league on fire in this situation, but it could be a way to ensure he doesn’t get overutilized.

Rest in between

Another road I can see the Flames taking to ease Parekh into professional hockey is not playing him every night. This would be similar to how the Anaheim Ducks used Leo Carlsson a couple seasons ago for his rookie year. The Ducks would have Carlsson be a healthy scratch every few games. This wasn’t due to poor performance, but so Carlsson could refresh by watching the game from an outside view and keep his conditioning at a high level.

The Flames could pretty easily do this with Parekh. With their filled-out right side, Pachal could rotate in for the nights that they want Parekh to rest. Parekh has played tons of hockey in the past two years. Having a year where he’s suiting up for 50–60% of the games could do well for his stamina. History has also shown with players like Rasmus Ristolainen and Jamie Drysdale that slotting a teenage defenceman to play a solid role can stunt their growth, especially in the defensive end.

Top-four minutes

If Parekh is showing tons of his skill and potential, perhaps he works his way into a top-four role. His path to the top four could actually end up being really simple. To start, Weegar can play the left side, which would open up a possible position for Parekh to enter the top four, potentially with Weegar as a partner.

On the other side of things, trading Andersson seems more like a when than an if at this point. So, when the deal comes, Parekh could slide into the position Andersson fills. Both are pretty viable options that would see him alongside a defensively responsible partner in either Weegar or Kevin Bahl.

The Calder Trophy race

The 2025–26 rookie class seems like it is going to be a very fun one to watch. Rookies coming over from Russia, finishing up college careers, or making the jump from the CHL. Parekh will certainly be a part of the fun.

The class

It honestly looks to be a great year for rookies. The current favourite for the Calder Trophy has to be Ivan Demidov of the Montreal Canadiens. However, the group that follows him has tons of talent as well. Highly regarded prospects across the board with Alexander Nikishin with the Carolina Hurricanes, Jimmy Snuggerud for the St. Louis Blues, Zeev Buium with the Minnesota Wild, and Ryan Leonard suiting up for the Washington Capitals.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Isaac Howard and Matt Savoie found tons of success playing in the Edmonton Oilers’ top-six to strengthen the pool. Sam Rinzel looked impressive when he joined the Chicago Blackhawks at the end of last season, and Artyom Levshunov is there as well. You can’t count out the top-two picks of the draft in Matthew Schaefer or Michael Misa either.

The list goes on and on of talented players who may step into the league and light it up. It is really difficult to name them all. So, where does Parekh fit in? Does Parekh have a shot to win? Or even just place high? Honestly, I think he does. It wouldn’t be crazy to say that Parekh is the most talented of the group behind only Demidov. Some players, I believe, are poised to play a higher role and/or have a more mature game than Parekh, but if you had to bet off talent alone, Parekh is at the top.

How Parekh might place in the race

Parekh’s dominance in the offensive zone, paired with his smarts, makes it very hard to believe he won’t find success. The only thing that may stop him from placing high is the role he is served. In a perfect world, Parekh has a Cale Makar or Quinn Hughes-esque rookie season, instantly showing that he’ll be among the league’s best defencemen. But that feels way more like a dream than reality.

I do think that there is a good chance that the Flames will play Parekh in a limited role. Whether it be third-pair minutes, resting him every few games, or both. The Flames are dealt a very difficult situation where they can’t send Parekh to mature against higher competition in the AHL or NCAA. He’s also too good for the OHL, so he must stay in the NHL. The issue is that Parekh’s defence is still shaky, and in general, it’s not a brilliant idea to play a 19-year-old defenceman in the NHL, especially an offensive one. One of the only realistic ways to combat these issues is to give Parekh an eased way into the NHL.

Amongst all the rookies for this season, if I had to pick one to outperform expectations, I’d have an easy time picking Parekh. While I do think the limited role a realistic outcome, I can also see Parekh playing so well he forces his way into a top-four role. Not a historic season, but one where he puts up 45–55 points while getting time on both power play units. It’d be very difficult not to see him high up the Calder rankings if such is the case.

Parekh’s placement in the Calder voting will all depend on his deployment. Not really a shocking discovery. If Parekh is given one of the limited routes, I can see him placing in the sixth to 10th range of best rookies. A more mature game by the end of it as a reward for sacrificing a chance.

But his talent, smarts, and drive make it easy to bet on him forcing his way up the rankings. If Parekh can secure a big-time top-four role early on, there is a somewhat decent chance that he could win the Calder over the favourite in Demidov. I actually think it’s about as realistic for Parekh to finish top three in Calder voting as it is for him to be in that range I mentioned earlier.

A season bound to be fun

The Calder Trophy race this season is bound to be fun to watch. There are tons of talented players entering the league, and Parekh is in the middle of it all. How high Parekh places in the race is highly dependent on how the Flames choose to deploy him. Restricted ice-time would likely have Parekh sacrifice the race to put a focus on getting the best development he can.

Or, Parekh could impress and be amongst the top rookies in the league, showing little struggle against the best of the best. Regardless of which happens, positive is to follow Parekh.