On Monday, the Calgary Flames concluded an important bit of business, signing 2022 second-overall selection Simon Nemec to a five year contract that will keep him with the hockey club through the conclusion of the 2030-31 season.

A 22-year-old right shot defenceman, Nemec just concluded his entry-level contract with the New Jersey Devils before being traded to the Flames a few days before the 2026 NHL Draft. Not only does this deal sew up Nemec’s services for the next while, there’s a strong argument to be made that it laid significant groundwork for the eventual next contract for defenceman Zayne Parekh.

Let’s explain why.

Nemec just finished his entry-level deal with the Devils. Parekh is entering the second year of his entry-level deal with the Flames. Nemec is an offensive-minded right shot defenceman with a knack for jumping into the rush and creating offence. Parekh? He’s also an offensive-minded right shot defenceman with a knack for jumping into the rush and creating offence. Heck, both players share the same birthday, Feb. 15, albeit two years apart.

Nemec’s three entry-level years in the NHL went like this:

So far, here’s how Parekh’s entry-level years have gone:

If you want to make a case that Parekh got his growing pains out of the way in his first year, rather than how Nemec did that in his second year, we’re not going to disagree. If Parekh can play close to as well as he did in the last 20-25 games of the season over the course of the full 2026-27 campaign, it’s probably not unreasonable to expect his offensive production to resemble what Nemec produced in his first or third seasons in New Jersey.

If Parekh’s production is in the same ballpark as Nemec’s entry-level production, there’s a pretty easy case to be made that he should probably get a similar contract coming out of his ELC. Nemec’s $7.25 million AAV in 2026-27 is worth 7% of the cap. Parekh’s ELC expires after the 2027-28 season and the projected salary cap for 2028-29 is slated to be $123 million. If you give Parekh 7% of that season’s cap hit, that’s roughly $8.6 million AAV on his next deal.

Right now, it may feel a bit far-fetched, and we’re aware that the case we’re making includes the word “if” quite a bit. But if Parekh can maintain the level of play and production that he had to end 2025-26, he may very well play his way into a pretty similar contract as Nemec received.