[mogg]

Originally Posted by stemit14

Paraphrasing here and I can’t remember who said it but… when Conroy drafted Parekh, I remember the first thing from one of the commenters on Sportsnet was that Parekh told teams not to draft him if they didn’t want him to play his game. That same commentator also praised his skill and ability but I couldn’t help but think that type of statement from a young player could rub lots of scouts or GMs the wrong way. It can be seen as an attitude problem or can be seen as a kid being confident in his skills.

Can anyone else remember this comment about Parekh?

I remember that, but more something like “anyone who drafts me needs to understand I have to play the game a certain way.”

This Athletic article by Scott Wheeler is mostly about his unique approach and style (paywall):

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/552.../?redirected=1

Some snippets:

“You’ll watch him play and you’ll be like, ‘Man, does this guy even care right now?’” Dalmao said, chuckling. “There’s times where I get on him about it. Like ‘Hey, Z, your body language,’ and he kind of just looks at you like he doesn’t know what you’re talking about, and that’s because he’s kind of just standing there because he’s kind of just watching everything happen. And then all of a sudden you snap your fingers and he’s in the place he needs to be and he’s making something happen.”

Dalmao says ever since Parekh was a little kid, he needed to be stimulated by what they were doing. Whereas some players go through the motions even when they’re not interested in something, Parekh won’t do that, according to Dalmao. Instead, he’ll simply say, “This does not interest me.”

“He’s a creative guy, especially on the ice,” Dalmao said. “He certainly sees things a little bit different at times. But that was something that we wanted to nurture.”

…Azim’s priorities aligned with Parekh’s interest in offense, and so they each focused, from an early age, on building skills more like forwards would.

Parekh “took that to a different level,” though.

“A lot of players overlook this, but Zayne Parekh, for as much hockey as he’s played, he has seen just as much. And watching developed his ability to see the game in a certain way, and in a way that makes it easy for him to process,” Dalmao said. “Things slow down for him. That’s why it almost looks like there’s not a lot of effort there, but it’s just slowed down to him so much that he just kind of plays like that. And those things have combined to lend themselves to him being so dynamic offensively.”

“Every critic that’s out there says he doesn’t defend hard enough, which I disagree with,” Drinkill said. “He’s just smart about how he defends. If you really watch him play and how he defends, even on the penalty kill, his stick’s so active, he breaks up plays, he reads plays before they happen. … People have to criticize him for something, but I know he’s definitely making a conscious effort to improve that stigma, and I think he has done a heck of a job with it.”