If there’s one thing we always hear when it comes to young hockey players, it’s they’ve got to play games to develop.

Unfortunately, on a week-to-week basis, Calgary Flames top prospect Zayne Parekh won’t be playing in any games after suffering an upper-body injury against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday. But when Parekh is ready to return, though, he may have some interesting avenues available to him in regards to getting some game reps in with the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers

Now, Parekh is in his 19-year-old season. And because he was drafted out of the Ontario Hockey League, part of the Canadian Hockey League system, he’s not eligible to play in the AHL full-time. However, coming off an injury, he would become eligible for a conditioning loan to the AHL.

Here are two forms it could take.

Under the terms of the CBA, along with the NHL-CHL Transfer Agreement, teenagers that are subject to the transfer agreement are eligible to go to the AHL on a conditioning stint if they miss five games as a healthy scratch. While Parekh’s situation is a little different, we consulted league sources and were told that a conditioning stint following his injury would be consistent with the current agreement – meaning that his injury-related absence would qualify him for a conditioning stint.

Our understanding is that Parekh would be able to go to the AHL for one conditioning stint lasting up to two weeks. While he was on that conditioning loan, he would count against the Flames’ 23-man roster.

If Parekh misses 10 games or 24 days, he would also become eligible for a long-term injury exception conditioning loan. Under this loan, he would remain on the injury reserve list while he was loaned to the AHL to assess his fitness to play. The loan would be for up to three games or six days (whichever was longer), and could be extended for two more games if requested.

The long-term injury exception conditioning loan would likely be shorter than the “regular” conditioning loan, but Parekh wouldn’t count against the 23-man active roster during it. He would count against the salary cap either way. Parekh wouldn’t be able to do both types of conditioning loans, it would be one or the other.

Long story short: the Flames have some options with how to get Parekh up to speed once he’s healthy. We’ll have more updates on his eventual return to action as they become available in the coming weeks.

This article is a presentation of Platinum Mitsubishi, family owned and operated by lifelong Calgarians. Home of the industry-leading 10-year, 160,000-kilometre powertrain warranty. Check out their showroom at 2720 Barlow Trail NE or online at www.mitsu.ca.