🚨 The Zayne Parekh show has arrived 🚨

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Rick M.

Because he plays D like a rover (think a miniature Brent Burns), he needs a D partner who can adapt to Zayne’s style of play. I’d hate to see his offensive play neutered to make his defensive play more ‘responsible’.

Disagree.

I'm not saying he should change his offensive game, but his gap control and reads when the puck gets turned over.

Never a bad thing to make a gifted offensive player sound defensively as well.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Disagree.

I'm not saying he should change his offensive game, but his gap control and reads when the puck gets turned over.

Never a bad thing to make a gifted offensive player sound defensively as well.

Correct, it's not always either/or.

[NuclearFart]

He also needs to learn how to take a hit and protect himself better. He's being physically targeted, is underweight (by adult NHL standards), and takes alot of awkward hits.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I can't see any glaring examples of mistakes made with him.

He's an offensive player, that was starting his NHL career with a team that couldn't score a goal to save their lives. That meant no points. And that meant eroding confidence.

They could have sent him back to juniors if they knew they'd suck in the first quarter, but not sure they would have predicted that.

Imagine if Parekh was on the team in the last 20 games? He's likely have 10 points and be well on his way.

I think at this point once he comes back - you just have to play him full time or at least 90% of the games.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Calgary Highlander

Zayne is at his best when he top dog playing heavy minutes. For this reason, I wouldn't be opposed to sending him back to Junior, letting his go on a Memorial Cup run, and then starting him on the Wranglers next season.

You lose out on some of the technical development he'd get playing in the NHL this year, but you bring along his mental game slowly so that he is playing 25 minutes a night by the end of next season.

He's been the top dog in junior for two years - averaging 100 points. Don't really see much sense in sending him back again and expect anything different when he comes back.

[Flamescuprun2018]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Can he still goto the AHL for a few games first? with the conditioning stint?

My read of rules is he can go down for 14 consecutive days.

If the WJC finals are Jan 6. Ship him to AHL on return home for next Wranglers game.

Wranglers play Jan 10,11, 16, 18.

Could be sent down for 4 games and return after Jan 18th Wrangler game.

Flames play Jan 19 and 21.

If they do that I will be buying Wranglers tickets on Jan 16 or 18 to watch him in the league he should be in this year.

Gives CC another 2+ weeks to move Andersson and open up PP1 for Parekh.

[Finger Cookin]

Those charts from Twitter are cool, he's one of only three players shown with more than 20 whatever's they're measuring.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

I think at this point once he comes back - you just have to play him full time or at least 90% of the games.

I’m not convinced of that at all.
The pro game overwhelmed him. Defending at the WJC overwhelms him.
Let the kid work out, get stronger, practice and if he only plays sparingly it’s not hurting him. Pushing him into a role where he gets speedbagged continually absolutely can hurt him. Karlsson barely cut it by age 20. And sorry Zayne ain’t Karlsson.

[Monahammer]

Imo its obvious the coach and players in calgary wanted parekh to come in and do something specific to not rock the boat.

Problem here is that the boat isnt worth preserving and needs to be rocked.

Flames should be adapting around parekh not the other way around.

[shutout]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

I think at this point once he comes back - you just have to play him full time or at least 90% of the games.

Disagree the same as when fans were complaining about him not playing every game to start the year. He should go down for an AHL conditioning stint and then he should be playing 50% of the games in January.
He should have been on a college kind of program where he was spending more time in the gym and learning how to be a pro defenseman than just going out and playing every second game. Let him continue to develop and learn in January and then he can start to ramp up in March after the Olympics.
This is a marathon we are doing with Parekh not a sprint to see how many games he gets in a quick as possible.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Imo its obvious the coach and players in calgary wanted parekh to come in and do something specific to not rock the boat.

Problem here is that the boat isnt worth preserving and needs to be rocked.

Flames should be adapting around parekh not the other way around.

That isn't obvious at all.

[Jiri Hrdina]

I think both things can be true
- The Flames need to put Zayne in position where his unique attributes can shine and flourish.
- Zayne needs to round out his defensive game a lot to be a top end dmen in the NHL.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I think both things can be true
- The Flames need to put Zayne in position where his unique attributes can shine and flourish.
- Zayne needs to round out his defensive game a lot to be a top end dmen in the NHL.

I guess the question is - do you put him with a stay at home guy to balance him and let him take more chances - or a more offensive guy to play off of? And you probably have to keep him on the right side - it's better not to complicate things. So his partners will be: Bahl, Kuz, Hanley or you make Weegar switch. Weegar probably isn't the best choice since he takes chances a lot.

I imagine it would work best with Bahl, who I think is a great defenceman already and is only going to get better.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

I guess the question is - do you put him with a stay at home guy to balance him and let him take more chances - or a more offensive guy to play off of? And you probably have to keep him on the right side - it's better not to complicate things. So his partners will be: Bahl, Kuz, Hanley or you make Weegar switch. Weegar probably isn't the best choice since he takes chances a lot.

I imagine it would work best with Bahl, who I think is a great defenceman already and is only going to get better.

Both.
I think he needs to have the right d partner that allows him to use his offensive skills. But he also needs to mature his own defensive acumen.

He's never going to be Frank Musil out there, but he needs to be average defensively, to go with elite offensive abilities.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

I guess the question is - do you put him with a stay at home guy to balance him and let him take more chances - or a more offensive guy to play off of? And you probably have to keep him on the right side - it's better not to complicate things. So his partners will be: Bahl, Kuz, Hanley or you make Weegar switch. Weegar probably isn't the best choice since he takes chances a lot.

I imagine it would work best with Bahl, who I think is a great defenceman already and is only going to get better.

I think Bahl is the right partner for him. Parekh is never going to be a physical dman but if he can develop a better stick in his own zone that would be sufficient imo. Him being the straw that stirs the drink at the World Juniors, being their best offensive player (forward or defence) and outshining all other players from the 2024 draft on the team is a pretty good tournament for the kid. He looks like he just plays and thinks hockey at a totally different level compared to his teammates on Team Canada.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

I think Bahl is the right partner for him. Parekh is never going to be a physical dman but if he can develop a better stick in his own zone that would be sufficient imo. Him being the straw that stirs the drink at the World Juniors, being their best offensive player (forward or defence) and outshining all other players from the 2024 draft on the team is a pretty good tournament for the kid. He looks like he just plays and thinks hockey at a totally different level compared to his teammates on Team Canada.

I think Bahl is the right guy. He's a high IQ defender who uses his size well defensively. He skates OK and can make decent first pass (though all he has to do is get it to Parekh safely).

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Bend it like Bourgeois

I’m not convinced of that at all.
The pro game overwhelmed him. Defending at the WJC overwhelms him.
Let the kid work out, get stronger, practice and if he only plays sparingly it’s not hurting him. Pushing him into a role where he gets speedbagged continually absolutely can hurt him. Karlsson barely cut it by age 20. And sorry Zayne ain’t Karlsson.

How is he being overwhelmed defending at the WJC? He's fine at it. If he was a complete plug defensively they wouldn't play him so much.

[Calgary Highlander]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

He's been the top dog in junior for two years - averaging 100 points. Don't really see much sense in sending him back again and expect anything different when he comes back.

The difference is there are only a few months left in the season after the World Juniors. You can write off the rest of the season, and start him on the Wranglers playing 25minutes a night in the fall.

[Strange Brew]

I wonder if the return on an Andersson trade impacts whether Parekh goes back to the CHL or not.

[Rick M.]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Disagree.

I'm not saying he should change his offensive game, but his gap control and reads when the puck gets turned over.

Never a bad thing to make a gifted offensive player sound defensively as well.

Of course his gap control, etc., should improve and it will. I just don’t want his offensive game to suffer.