I have his floor at Ghost bear, and ceiling of Makar. Quite the range. Hoping Danielle Fujita can help him become that much more of a power skater since he's already got the agility
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Gostisbehere is a defensive liability, but I was surprised to just learn that he has 411 points in 686 games. 22nd all time among active Defensemen. He is 17th for D men on the season.
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Put him in the lineup. It's a risk worth taking given the already remote chance of squeaking in. A player of this calibre is unlikely to be the deciding factor in _missing_ the playoffs, but his immediate ceiling is such that he could be a deciding factor in _making_ the playoffs.
Either way, the player benefits from playing meaningful games.
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Absolutely do not put him in the lineup if we are still alive.
Imagine he plays, makes a bad rookie mistake that leads to a back breaking goal and that’s what ends our season? That’s not fair to the rest of the guys that worked their tails off to get to this point, and could be a confidence killer for him.
Once we are eliminated, sure.
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Oh, he's gonna suit up. Anderssons injury is going to allow for it. Andersson has been remarkably off the past few games and missing multiple practices for maintenance means he's likely nursing something closer to bad than nagging.
__________________ "Everybody's so desperate to look smart that nobody is having fun anymore" -Jackie Redmond
Absolutely do not put him in the lineup if we are still alive.
Imagine he plays, makes a bad rookie mistake that leads to a back breaking goal and that’s what ends our season? That’s not fair to the rest of the guys that worked their tails off to get to this point, and could be a confidence killer for him.
Once we are eliminated, sure.
Imagine he makes a play to win the game . Isn’t it unfair to deprive the team of that as well
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Absolutely do not put him in the lineup if we are still alive.
Imagine he plays, makes a bad rookie mistake that leads to a back breaking goal and that’s what ends our season? That’s not fair to the rest of the guys that worked their tails off to get to this point, and could be a confidence killer for him.
Once we are eliminated, sure.
I understand this I really do, but I don't think our group is built this way.
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Thanks AC!
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I have his floor at Ghost bear, and ceiling of Makar. Quite the range. Hoping Danielle Fujita can help him become that much more of a power skater since he's already got the agility
I think this is fair and I am trying not to get ahead of myself when it comes to expectations. Parekh is still somewhat of a mystery.
If you look at the top offensive defenseman that have come out of the OHL, there are a bunch that didn't make it or went on to have average careers, and of course a few star players. When you look at the top 10 offensive defensemen currently in the NHL, only 2 played in the CHL (Bouchard-OHL and Morrisey-WHL). The CHL in general just hasn't been producing them at the same rate as the NCAA and Sweden it seems.
Having said that, no defenseman in the OHL has put up numbers like Parekh in a generation, so what happened in the past might not apply in 2025.
So yeah, totally fair to have player comparisons with a lot of real estate in between. Parekh is a pretty unique player which make it hard to predict. He could definitely end up being a borderline generational player like Makar or a PP specialist that you have to manage more carefully... or anything in between. He probably is never going to have the defensive game to fall back on if the offense doesn't come, so it is kind of boom or bust IMO.
__________________
"A pessimist thinks things can't get any worse. An optimist knows they can."
Imagine Badger Bob in '86 saying, "I know we just lost our 11th game in a row, and Vernie looked incredible against the Russians, but this is no time to taking chances with rookies."
A goalie making a mistake is infinitely worse than a player, but Vernie ended up putting the team on his 5'4" shoulders and carrying them to the Finals. We need offence, and Parekh is the most offensively gifted player we've seen in this organization since #13. Let's ####ing go.
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I'd rather lose a game because a guy like Parehk made a mistake than someone like Bean. He might also make a play that no one else on the team can make and win a game.
I'm under no impression that this team has much more than 3 home playoff game upside. I hope we see him play and hope it's in a meaningful game.
__________________ "Some guys like old balls"
Patriots QB Tom Brady
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In the eyes of the court of the public opinion I think Flames management is in a damned if they do, damned if they don't situation here.
Scenario A:
Parekh doesn't get in the lineup, team loses a couple upcoming games, Parekh plays last couple games of the season and looks great. People will be saying they should have been playing him instead of Bean or a banged up Andersson.
Scenario B:
Parekh gets into the lineup right away, has some shaky moments and costs them a bad goal or two. People will be irate that Huska put him in when he's not ready, his confidence will be shot etc...
Scenario C:
Parekh gets into the lineup and leads them into the playoffs.
At this point I'm all in on scenario C. #### it. We'll do it live! No pressure kid!
