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Flames top prospect Zayne Parekh showed great improvement in Wranglers loss to Laval
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Photo credit: David Moll/Calgary Wranglers
Ryan Pike
Jan 25, 2026, 12:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 25, 2026, 00:52 EST
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Way, way back on Nov. 7, Zayne Parekh played a game for the Calgary Flames. He was injured in the second period off a hit from Nick Foligno.
On Jan. 18, following a month of recovery from that injury, several weeks with Team Canada at the World Junior Championship, and then a bit of time recovering from a minor injury after he returned to the Flames, Parekh began a conditioning stint with the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers and played his first professional game in over two months.
Parekh very much looked like someone who hadn’t played pro hockey in awhile and was trying to figure things out on the fly. Given the circumstances, it feels unfair to hold that outing against him. On Saturday afternoon, Parekh suited up for the second time with the Wranglers.
And he looked, well, like you would hope Parekh to look, for the most part.
“I thought he was much better today,” said Wranglers head coach Brett Sutter. “I thought he was more confident with the puck. He was moving his feet. He was making plays. I thought it looked a lot more like his game. So I thought he did a lot of good things, generated a lot of chances for us. So a step in the right direction for sure.”
The Wranglers lost 5-3 to the Laval Rocket.
Here are a few takeaways from our observations of Parekh’s second AHL game:
  • Parekh was on the ice for two goals against, both in the first period The first was off an Aydar Suniev turnover inside the Wranglers blueline where Parekh was passed around by Laval’s attackers, though he had very little time to react to the turnover. The other was a shorthanded goal scored after netminder Arsenii Sergeev lost his skate blade and his teammates tried to get the play blown down, and Laval took advantage and scored in the confusion.
  • Parekh was on the ice for two goals for. The first was a Dryden Hunt goal in the first period off a give-and-go where Parekh stepped onto the ice and immediately the Wranglers scored. The second was a Suniev deflection of a Parekh point shot in the second period.
  • Parekh was credited with two assists. He made the initial pass to set up a Lucas Ciona/David Silye give-and-go rush play, where Ciona scored off a Silye rebound. (Parekh was on the bench when they scored.) He also got an assist off the aforementioned Suniev deflection.
  • Parekh took a minor penalty for tripping in the third period, battling for a 50-50 puck inside the Laval blueline and taking a player down in the process.
  • Defensively, Parekh was fine, and his reads on rush plays got better as the game went along.
  • Offensively, Parekh looked increasingly confident as the game wore on. In his AHL debut, Parekh seemed like he was trying to play through opposition coverage, while he used his foot-speed and puck-moving ability much more effectively against Laval.
All-in-all, we estimated that Parekh played about 22:22, with two assists, three shots on goal, and an even plus/minus rating.
When he spoke to the media post-game, Parekh was upbeat about his game and his improvements from his initial AHL outing.
“Yeah, a lot better,” said Parekh. “You know, I thought I was moving the puck to my standard and finally hitting passes, so I felt pretty good. Obviously, it sucks that we didn’t win, but, you know, it’s a good step in the right direction.”
Parekh mentioned that over the past week, he did “a lot of video” and it seemed like he knew the Wranglers’ system much more than he did last weekend – aside from maybe one play where he and Nick Cicek both tried to play the puck off an offensive zone face-off win. He seemed much more comfortable compared to his first AHL appearance.
“I think from the start, you know, maybe I didn’t get a good feel of the time and space the last game, but, you know, just shift by shift, I tried to, you know, feel better, feel a little more comfortable and feel, obviously, a little more confident,” said Parekh. “And, you know, I felt good in the second and third. Maybe the first was a little slow, but, you know, as long as I continue to get better, that’s the big thing.”
Parekh is eligible to appear two more times for the Wranglers before his conditioning stint expires: Monday night at home against Laval and on Friday when the Wranglers visit the San Jose Barracuda.

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