Zayne Parekh has had a very weird 2025-26 season.

He entered the season in a really unique position. Not only was he the top prospect in the Calgary Flames organization, but he had amassed a really incredible junior hockey resume.

He entered the OHL in 2022-23 as a 16-year-old and put up 37 points. In his 17-year-old, draft-eligible season, 2023-24, he had 33 goals and 96 points and led the Saginaw Spirit to a Memorial Cup. In his 18-year-old season, 2024-25, he had 33 goals and 107 points. In three seasons in the OHL, his resume was littered with goal and points records, all-star and all-rookie team appearances, and simply preposterous offensive metrics.

So here’s the thing: the 2025-26 season is Parekh’s 19-year-old season and since he was drafted out of Canadian major junior hockey, due to the NHL-CHL Transfer Agreement his options for the season were playing in the NHL with the Flames or playing in the OHL with the Spirit. After two ridiculous seasons in the OHL, there was simply no real reason to send him back to junior – what would have been learned by having him rag-doll teenagers in the OHL for another season?

We don’t need to litigate the NHL-CHL Transfer Agreement, it simply is what it is.

And so Parekh became a full-time pro as a 19-year-old, getting his feet wet in professional hockey in the toughest league in the world. And his first month in the NHL, ever, corresponded with the Flames’ worst start to a season in franchise history. Parekh, in the role he was given, was perfectly fine. But he suited up on the third pairing in 11 of the Flames’ first 16 games… a stretch where the Flames went 4-10-2.

For a team that had designs on making a push for a playoff spot and tended to shorten their bench when trying to make a push in games they were chasing, which happened often, the start was a disaster and made it really tough for them to give Parekh a more prominent role. To add insult to injury, in the form of an injury, Parekh was injured in the Flames’ 16th game.

Parekh ended up missing a month and, in an effort to get him some minutes and build his confidence back up, Parekh was loaned to the Canadian national junior team. He ended up having a great tournament, helping Canada capture a bronze medal and setting single-tournament records for points and goals by a Canadian defenceman. He looked like OHL Parekh.

He returned to the Flames and sat out as a scratch while recuperating from a minor injury, then was loaned to the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers on a conditioning stint. After a game spent figuring things out, he was superb over the rest of his four games in the second-best league in the world. Again, he looked like OHL Parekh.

This season has not gone accord to plan for the Flames or for Parekh. The Flames had hoped that they would in the playoff picture, and that Parekh would be a big part of getting them over the line. Well, it hasn’t panned out that way. But in a season full of adversity – an unclear NHL role, an injury, then having to adapt to the World Juniors and the AHL after not playing for awhile – Parekh has remained, well, Parekh.

This is the type of year that would erode the swagger of just about anybody. And while Parekh has probably been humbled at times by the experience – this is probably the first time he’s struggled at anything in hockey in years – he’s also persevered and managed to regain his swagger.

The hope is that Parekh will be a big piece of the Flames’ future success. While 2025-26 hasn’t been a banner year, it’s been full of lessons that can probably help Parekh become the player he needs to be to get the Flames to where they want to go.

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