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FN’s 2025 Flames summer prospect rankings – #1: Zayne Parekh

Originally posted on Flamesnation | By Mike Gould | Last updated Aug 27, 2025 10:00 AM ET

There are good prospects, there are great prospects, and then there’s Zayne Parekh.

The Saginaw Spirit standout made his NHL debut with the Calgary Flames in the 2024-25 season finale and lived up to even the highest expectations, scoring his first goal and finishing with a plus-3 rating in over 20 minutes of ice time against the Los Angeles Kings. It was the perfect way to cap off arguably the best season by a Flames defence prospect in more than four decades.

Parekh is widely considered to be one of the best prospects in the world. He’s a two-time member of the CHL first all-star team, was named the 2024 CHL defenceman of the year, and is coming off a record-setting 33-goal, 107-point season with Saginaw in 2024-25. If the Flames have a bona fide superstar in their system today, it’s Parekh — and he’s our unanimous No. 1 selection.

Zayne Parekh

Defenceman, shoots right
Born Feb. 15, 2006 (age 19) in Markham, ON
6’0″, 179 pounds
Drafted in the first round (9th overall) by Calgary in the 2024 NHL Draft

The Flames drafted Parekh with the No. 9 pick immediately after he scored 33 goals and 96 points in 66 games with Saginaw in the 2023-24 regular season. That’s an awfully high bar for any player to set, and most fans in Calgary would’ve been content if he’d been able to maintain that level of production in 2024-25 while rounding out his overall game. But Parekh started his first post-draft season relatively slow, recording four goals and 15 points in his 15 games.

It’s hard to say how much Parekh’s pedestrian October performance played into him not being invited to the 2025 World Juniors, but if alarm bells weren’t already starting to ring in the Hockey Canada offices when he started to heat up in late November, they were loud enough to be heard from coast to coast in the week after Boxing Day when Team Canada lost to Latvia, scored 13 goals in five games, and finished off the podium entirely. Hey, if Hockey Canada felt Parekh isn’t the kind of guy you can win with, they must have missed the 2024 Memorial Cup.

In any event, Parekh finished the regular season with 92 points in his final 46 games — yes, that’s exactly two points per game — and tacked on nine points in five playoff contests as Saginaw fell to the Erie Otters in the first round. He ultimately outdid his 2023-24 point total by 11 despite appearing in five fewer games; he also wound up with a +42 rating and 243 shots on goal (nearly four per game).

To further put Parekh’s season into perspective, he became the first OHL defenceman to score 30 goals in back-to-back seasons since before it was even called the OHL. Nearly 60 years ago, a certain Bobby Orr scored 34 and 38 goals in consecutive years with the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey Association, which would not adopt its current moniker until 1980. Parekh scored 33 goals with Saginaw in both 2023-24 and 2024-25; for comparison’s sake, Drew Doughty scored 38 goals in total over his three OHL seasons with the Guelph Storm.

One of four rookies to make his NHL debut in the Flames’ 2024-25 season finale, Parekh passed his audition with flying colours. He fit in seamlessly with Calgary’s existing defensive contingent and looked completely at home quarterbacking the top power-play unit, which will undoubtedly be one of his key assignments with the Flames going forward. And if there were any concerns about Parekh’s aggressive style not translating to the NHL, those were dispelled pretty much as soon as he scored his first goal on a picture-perfect deflection between the circles. How many teenage defencemen would have the wherewithal to even attempt this kind of play?

FLAMES GOAL

ZAYNE PAREKH SCORES HIS FIRST NHL GOAL!

: Sportsnet | #Flames pic.twitter.com/go4pJwTi8Y

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) April 18, 2025

Here’s how McKeen’s Hockey director of scouting Brock Otten summarized Parekh’s junior career and achievements:

The first OHL defender to hit the 100 point mark since Ryan Ellis did over a decade ago. That’s a pretty significant accomplishment, especially when you consider all the talent that has passed through Ontario during that time. It’s a testament to Parekh’s skill and vision. Few control the offensive blueline the way that he does. In the same way that Lane Hutson has taken the NHL by storm with Montreal, Parekh consistently creates offense; he routinely escapes pressure to get pucks on net or to the middle of the ice thanks to the way his feet work in sync with his hands. Parekh has taken a positive step forward as a defensive player too. He’ll never be excused for Chris Chelios, but he’s worked hard to become tougher to play against and he only needs to be passable in the defensive end given what he can do with the puck. No offense to Mackenzie Weegar or Rasmus Andersson, but this is Calgary’s powerplay quarterback sooner, rather than later. Ultimately, it’s going to come down to whether he can defend at the NHL level or not. If he can’t, risks becoming a Shayne Gostisbehere type, who needs to be sheltered heavily at even strength in order to benefit from what he can do on the powerplay. As stated, he’s made strides, but even more is needed.

Expectations for 2025-26

Lane Hutson scored 66 points in his rookie season with the Montreal Canadiens last year, but he was just about exactly a year older than Parekh will be in 2025-26. (Of course, he was also drafted nearly two rounds later). Quinn Hughes is more of a direct comparable in terms of age and pedigree, but even he turned 20 right at the start of his own rookie year with the Vancouver Canucks. And it’s entirely possible that Parekh has a more difficult time adjusting to the NHL level than those two guys did.

Then again, Parekh will be given every opportunity to prove his worth in a wide variety of situations with the Flames in training camp, preseason, and the regular season. He’ll have the benefit of playing alongside steady veterans like MacKenzie Weegar, Kevin Bahl, and Joel Hanley. And more than anything, he’ll get all kinds of reps as the team’s go-to power-play conduit. Not many guys can do what Parekh is best at.

If Parekh can score 30-40 points as a rookie while holding his own in key game situations, not just on the man-advantage, he’ll be well on his way to accomplishing great things in Calgary. If he finally gets to play for Team Canada at this year’s World Juniors, even better. But one way or another, Parekh’s performances next year and beyond will play a huge role in determining whether these Flames can eventually become serious contenders.

This article first appeared on Flamesnation and was syndicated with permission.

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