Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Parekh named OHL defenseman of the month.....again.

yourbestfriend · 02-14-2025, 05:07 PM

Will be interesting to see how he arrives at next years camp - 2 full summers of training after being drafted plus a record breaking D+1 pace.
Guys this talented develop exponentially, so I would expect to see a huge jump in his overall play come September. A great example is Mackinnon, had 1pt in 6games in the 2013 WJC. Less than a year later, he's putting up 63pts in his first NHL season.

The only thing I will caution about Parekh and his readiness for the NHL is that even the best defensemen need 2years+ in development before making the NHL full time. From the top 20point producing defensemen in the league only Hughes, Werenski, Hedman, Dahlin, Karlsson, Chychrun and Sergachev made their teams with one or less seasons of additional development.

Add in our seasoned AHL prospects who are are now seriously pushing for bottom 6 spots -Solovyov (4 AHL seasons), Kuznetsov (3 AHL seasons), Poirier (3 AHL seasons), Grusnikov (2 AHL seasons) and to a lesser extent Brzustewicz (1 AHL season) - Parekh has some legit competition to beat out.
Assuming no trades or signings for next season I would pencil in Weegar, Andersson, Bahl and Pachal as regulars.

Weegar - Andersson
Bahl - Open
Pachal - Open
Bean

If the development is there, put him in, but it wouldn't shock me for a second if he couldn't beat out a few of our current crop of prospects for a job next year. In which case, I would have no issues sending him back to juniors.

02-14-2025, 05:07 PM	#179
yourbestfriend Crash and Bang Winger Join Date: Jan 2009 Exp:	Will be interesting to see how he arrives at next years camp - 2 full summers of training after being drafted plus a record breaking D+1 pace. Guys this talented develop exponentially, so I would expect to see a huge jump in his overall play come September. A great example is Mackinnon, had 1pt in 6games in the 2013 WJC. Less than a year later, he's putting up 63pts in his first NHL season. The only thing I will caution about Parekh and his readiness for the NHL is that even the best defensemen need 2years+ in development before making the NHL full time. From the top 20point producing defensemen in the league only Hughes, Werenski, Hedman, Dahlin, Karlsson, Chychrun and Sergachev made their teams with one or less seasons of additional development. Add in our seasoned AHL prospects who are are now seriously pushing for bottom 6 spots -Solovyov (4 AHL seasons), Kuznetsov (3 AHL seasons), Poirier (3 AHL seasons), Grusnikov (2 AHL seasons) and to a lesser extent Brzustewicz (1 AHL season) - Parekh has some legit competition to beat out. Assuming no trades or signings for next season I would pencil in Weegar, Andersson, Bahl and Pachal as regulars. Weegar - Andersson Bahl - Open Pachal - Open Bean If the development is there, put him in, but it wouldn't shock me for a second if he couldn't beat out a few of our current crop of prospects for a job next year. In which case, I would have no issues sending him back to juniors. Last edited by yourbestfriend; 02-14-2025 at 05:09 PM.