32 Thoughts: What’s next for Zayne Parekh now that he has played ten games?

The Calgary Flames have finally allowed Zayne Parekh to play his tenth year, which means the first year of his ELC is officially underway. Regardless of how many games he plays, Parekh will be paid the first year of his contract.

On 32 Thoughts this week, Elliotte Friedman talked about how Parekh has played and whether there was a genuine concern about him going back to junior hockey. Here’s what he said.

“There was no way Zayne Parekh was going back to junior”

Friedman led off by saying that there was never a serious conversation about Parekh going back to junior after the season started. Not only did the team want him to play NHL minutes, knowing he’s too good for the OHL, but they had made a commitment to him that he would play this year.

Players who are to play for the team get a housing letter, which tells them to find a permanent home, and if they are sent down, the team will cover the cost of the place where they live. Parekh received one earlier this year, according to Friedman. Sending him down would have been an additional cost that they would have had to incur if they sent him back to the OHL.

Zayne Parekh hasn’t been perfect to start the year

However, Friedman rightly pointed out that Parekh has had his struggles to start the year. He said, “With Parekh, you see the ability, but you also see the rawness”. He has been really good, and the flashes of talent are there, but he has taken his hits in the corners. Parekh still has a lot of growing to do before he becomes an NHL player.

While his underlying numbers are among the best on the team, if you watch him on the ice, particularly in his own zone, he struggles to retain the puck and fight off guys who are bigger than him. He’s 19. This is to be expected. But for a team that needs to find a way to put the puck in the net more and limit chances against, Parekh’s struggles don’t help much.

Watch for the 40th game of the season

Friedman noted that teams care about the 10th game a little, but they really care about the 40th game of the season. If a player is on the roster for the 40th game of the season, regardless of how many games he plays, he burns a year towards arbitration and unrestricted free agency. That makes it harder to control his future and means the team has less time to sign him to a long-term deal under their own control.

The Flames’ 40th game is on New Year’s Eve against the Philadelphia Flyers, and assuming Parekh remains on the roster until then, that’s the day to watch to see what happens with him. Does he continue to be on the roster for the team, or do they make another call?

What’s next for Zayne Parekh?

Friedman also noted that this isn’t just about this season, but about the next decade of his career. They want to make him into a franchise player, and sending him down to the OHL wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. However, the Flames could have really used the clause in the new CBA that allowed for one 19-year-old player to go down to the AHL. They currently do not have that option. Even temporarily, getting Parekh some reps at the AHL level would have been beneficial for his development.

The Flames can technically send Parekh down to the AHL on a conditioning stint, but he needs to be healthy scratched for five games in a row first. That conditioning stint only lasts for either 5 games or 14 days, whichever comes first. They can only do this once in a season, according to Friedman, and can’t keep him in the AHL any longer than that.

Given what Friedman said, it seems clear that playing games and getting reps in the NHL makes the most sense. At least for now.