Zayne Parekh just had a generational D+1 season in the OHL

Parekh also became just the fourth defender in OHL history to post back-to-back 90+ point seasons and the first to achieve the feat since Chris Felix in 1984–85. For those counting at home, that’s 40 years since we’ve seen this level of production in multiple seasons from an OHL defenceman.

Goal production

Similar to his overall point production, his goal production has also found its home in the history books. As a refresher on his numbers last season, his 33 goals in 2023–24 were the second most by a draft-eligible defenceman in OHL history and just the second time any draft-eligible defender has even hit 30 goals. This year, Parekh once again made history, posting 33 goals for the second year in a row.

By hitting the 30 goal mark again, Parekh became the first and only defender in modern OHL history to post multiple 30 goal seasons. He, of course, also became the only one to ever do it in back-to-back seasons as well. The last defenceman to achieve the feat came all the way back in 1966 when Bobby Orr did it in the OHA.

There have only been eight instances in OHL history of a U19 defenceman hitting 30+ goals in a season, and Parekh has now done it twice. Outside of himself, of course, the last U19 defender to hit 30+ goals in an OHL season was Bryan Berard in 1995–96, 29 years ago.

A generational talent

It’s not a stretch at all to say Parekh is a generational talent. I mean, we haven’t seen a defender put up these kinds of numbers in the OHL in three decades. The last time a defender had more points in the OHL was 31 years ago. Mikael Backlund was five years old. That’s what we call generational.