Even Dustin Wolf is excited to see what Zayne Parekh brings to the Flames

The Calgary Flames are in the middle of a retooling process, as general manager Craig Conroy attempts to swap out aging veterans for exciting youngsters while keeping the team competitive.

If this strategy works, it’ll be because young players step into the NHL lineup and become key contributors. Last season, forward Matt Coronato and netminder Dustin Wolf became not just NHL regulars, but key players. Heck, Wolf was the runner-up for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie and also received votes for the Hart Trophy (as player most valuable to his team) and the Vezina Trophy (as the league’s top goaltender).

The Flames finished just outside the Stanley Cup playoffs, missing on tiebreakers alone, with Wolf a big reason for their success. Speaking at the NHL’s annual media tour in Vegas this week, Wolf expressed his excitement for another young Flames addition: blueliner Zayne Parekh.

“He’s an unbelievable hockey player,” said Wolf. “He’s a great person, too. He’s just a kid that, you know, it’s crazy to think. I feel like I’m young, but he’s five years younger than me. And just a lot of skill, a lot of potential. You know, his defense is solid. He’s going to do a lot of good things. We need a guy on the back end that can produce offensively at a high rate. So he’s going to bring our team a spark, that’s for sure.”

Wolf was the 214th overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft and he’s built up a pretty good resume. No slouch himself, Parekh was drafted ninth overall in the 2024 NHL Draft. And while Wolf approached his first NHL opportunity with a slew of WHL and AHL awards under his belt, Parekh’s done things offensively that no Ontario junior blueliner has done since Bobby Orr.

Considering that the Flames just barely missed the post-season, Wolf seems optimistic that the Flames have what it takes to get over the line in 2025-26.

“Yeah, we’re coming back with pretty much the same exact team,” said Wolf. “There was a lot of fire that we lost out to a tiebreaker, which is unfortunate. But, you know, I think there’s a lot of guys in the room, a lot of young guys that are stepping up and are looking to produce more, myself included. So it’s a great camaraderie of young guys and older guys that know the league and have been around it for a long time. So there’s a lot of good things going on in Calgary, and I still have no doubt we get in this year.”

(With files from Daily Faceoff’s Matt Larkin)