10 players who will define the Calgary Flames' 2026-27 season: Zayne Parekh

There may come a time soon enough when Zayne Parekh will be the player we’d expect to have the biggest impact on an upcoming Calgary Flames season.

If 2025-26 was his first full season in the NHL, it’s worth remembering that was in large part because the ninth-overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft was too young to play in the AHL, ineligible to play in the NCAA and had dominated the OHL to the point where there was no reasonable argument for sending him back to junior.

So Parekh was thrust into the best league in the world at only 19 years old, and there were inevitable challenges as he tried to find his footing against bigger, older and significantly more experienced opponents.

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And yet, by the final six weeks of the season there were flashes of brilliance, most notably his highlight-reel lamp-lighter in the final game of the year against the Los Angeles Kings. If the now-20-year-old can build off that final stretch and carry it into 2026-27, there’s every reason to believe he’ll be one of the guys who can help the Flames generate offence from the blueline and keep them competitive.

He’s certainly one of the most compelling players on the roster heading into the new season — the question is whether he can start becoming one of the most influential.

Parekh played in 37 games last year, but you can almost divide his season in two. There are the 17 games before the NHL’s March 6 trade deadline, and then there are the 20 games after.

Prior to the deadline, he had recorded only one assist. He only played more than 18 minutes in a game once and injuries hampered his ability to make an impact.