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Flames roster news: Why a conditioning stint could be in Zayne Parekh’s future
Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
On Tuesday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Calgary Flames rookie Zayne Parekh was a spectator. For the fourth time since returning to the National Hockey League following the World Juniors, Parekh was scratched against the Blue Jackets.
Now, Parekh got banged up at the World Juniors, taking a big hit late in Canada’s semi-final game against Czechia. Parekh finished that game and played in Canada’s bronze medal win over Finland the following day, but he’s been termed day-to-day with an upper body injury since returning to the Flames.
And so the Flames sit in a pretty unique situation in regards to Parekh and his development, particularly with an option opening up to them in the event that Parekh does not dress on Thursday against Chicago in the finale of their five game road trip.
If Parekh doesn’t play against Chicago, he becomes eligible for an American Hockey League conditioning stint.
On Friday’s edition of Flames Talk on Sportsnet 960 The Fan, Pat Steinberg discussed Parekh’s situation with Eric Francis, in the context of “Hey, is he gonna get into a game on the road trip?” Steinberg emphasized how careful the Flames are being with Parekh.
The Flames want to do everything in their power to make sure that another routineish hit doesn’t knock him out or a few weeks, because they feel like that would be as detrimental as it gets to his development. And so their big thing now is they want to see if, for the rest of the season and certainly between now and the end of the Olympic break, they want to see if they can get him working with the strength and conditioning group to just add a little bit of strength to his frame because at this stage, at 19, he is a little slighter than some other guys that are playing in the NHL.
Parekh hasn’t played an NHL game since Nov. 7, when he was injured by a Nick Foligno hit against Chicago. Given that he was also banged up against Czechia, perhaps it would make sense to ease Parekh into pro hockey against rather than just toss him into an NHL game for the first time in two and a half months.
And that’s why a conditioning stint could make a lot of sense.
Here’s Steinberg, a little later in his discussion with Francis from Friday:
The timing’s really interesting. Just for the sake of argument, if they didn’t put him in on this road trip, they could then send him to the American League a week from today. And he could go down there for two weeks or five games, I believe… And so if they were to send him to the American League, he could probably get into three if not four games, and practice with the team and be worked in the gym by Rick Davis and the conditioning group.
Since Parekh is a teenager that was drafted out of the CHL, he cannot go to the AHL unless it’s on a conditioning stint this season due to the NHL-CHL Transfer Agreement. If he goes, he can go for up to two weeks (as specified by Article 13.8 of the CBA). If he was assigned on Friday, he could be there for two weekends worth of games – potentially a pair against San Jose and a pair against Laval – and then he could return to the Flames before the end of the month. (The Flames are scheduled to travel back from Chicago on Friday, so we’re not sure if Parekh would be an option for the Wranglers on Friday night or not.)
We’ll be honest: Parekh needs to play to get his rhythm back at the pro level, and the Wranglers’ blueline is pretty lean right now. Parekh would probably play a lot, which would be the best thing for him as he prepares to get back into NHL action. Given how important Parekh is to the franchise and how careful Steinberg says they’re being in regards to making sure he doesn’t get hurt again, a conditioning stint would make a ton of sense.
We’ll see how the next few days unfold.
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