The Calgary Flames are sending their top prospect to the American Hockey League. Well, at least temporarily. On Saturday morning, the Flames announced that they’ve assigned blueliner Zayne Parekh to the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers on a conditioning stint.

The 19-year-old Parekh was drafted in 2024 out of the Ontario Hockey League’s Saginaw Spirit, which means that he’s subject to the restrictions of the NHL-CHL Transfer Agreement. Under that agreement, as a player in his 19-year-old season, Parekh is only allowed to play in the NHL or the OHL.

However, there’s a loophole: if Parekh is scratched for five consecutive games, the Flames are given the option to send him on a single conditioning stint lasting no more than 14 days. Unlike Martin Pospisil’s current long-term injury conditioning stint with the Wranglers, it’s not possible to extend Parekh’s stint.

Thursday night’s game in Chicago was Parekh’s fifth consecutive game as a spectator with the Flames since returning from his bronze-medal, record-setting performance at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship with Canada. The Flames had announced that Parekh was day-to-day with an upper-body injury – he was legitimately a bit banged up after the tournament, no shenanigans afoot – and because he missed five games after World Juniors, he meets the requirements for qualifying for a conditioning stint. (The spirit of the rule is more about missing games and getting rusty as a result than it is about being a healthy scratch.)

The 14-day window for Parekh begins on Saturday and runs through Fri., Jan. 30, though he can be summoned back to the NHL before that date. The Wranglers play three home games in that window before heading on the road, it seems probable that Parekh plays on Sunday against Bakersfield and then next weekend against Laval before rejoining the Flames. While he’s on the conditioning stint, he will count against the Flames’ 23-man active roster and their salary cap commitments.

We’ve seen Parekh dominate the OHL. We’ve seen him look fantastic at the World Juniors. We’ve seen flashes of brilliance and moments of frustration in the NHL. We’re excited to see what he’ll look like over the next couple weeks in the AHL.

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