Flames' Zayne Parekh leaves camp humbled and motivated

CALGARY – Two weeks after arriving at the Flames prospect tourney with a swagger befitting junior hockey’s highest-scoring defenceman, Zayne Parekh exited main camp Friday with a ticket home and a heaping helping of humility.

“Ya, it’s hard,” he said of his first up-close glimpse at what the National Hockey League is all about.

“A very humbling week.”

Pausing ever so slightly, he was quick to add, “but it was good.”

Sent back to the defending Memorial Cup champion Saginaw Spirit by the Flames after playing two exhibition games as an 18-year-old hopeful, Parekh gave a fairly-wide-eyed assessment of how he matched up against NHL vets.

“You don’t know what it’s like to skate with Jonathan Huberdeau, or the Kadris or the Backlunds, so you get on the ice with those guys and you’re a little star-struck for sure,” said the Flames’ ninth-overall pick this summer.

“When you play against such high calibre players and you practice with all pros you kind of see their habits and the things they do daily … really impressive.

“Really humbling being around these guys and you see how tough a league it is to crack, but I’m excited to try and crack it next year.

“You kind of understand how good these players are, and how far away you are.

“I’ve got a long way to go, and I’m excited.”

Flames fans should be too, as he has the tools to be an impact NHLer, for sure.

Sure, he was clearly swimming with sharks his first go-round, taking a quiet, more tentative approach to a game he generally attacks from every angle. 

Two important things were evident — his skating is sublime, and his passing ability is elite.

But the one thing he came to camp with in spades disappeared as early as the first prospects game when he was pickpocketed at the opposition’s blue line in overtime, resulting in a 2-on-0 that lost his team the game.

It was his, “welcome to the big league” moment.

“I lacked confidence throughout the week,” said Parekh, a naturally gifted athlete who probably never expected to utter such words.

“I thought my gaps were good, and my stickwork was good. I think I just need to be more physical down low, especially in the box-out area.”

Asked what else he needed to work on, the six-foot, 185-pound defenceman cited the importance of coming back bigger and stronger, something he had little time to work on in a summer in which he won a national crown, was drafted in the first round, attended the Flames’ development camp, and was part of the world junior summer showcase.

The kid who scored an incredible 33 goals and 96 points in 66 games from the back end vows to come back with more confidence and an eye on swiping an NHL gig next fall.

In a dinner-time conversation with sophomore camp standout Sam Honzek one night earlier, he found his inspiration.

“Honzie is a 20-year-old now and we were talking about how much more comfortable he felt and how good he looked,” said Parekh, whose underwhelming showing this fall mirrored that of Honzek’s a year earlier.

“A player who has dealt with a lot over the last year-and-a-half but he’s starting to prove people wrong.

“He kind of just told me how the second time around you understand what you are getting into. 

“I really didn’t understand what I was getting into. But that’s a good thing. It’s a really good learning experience for me and I’ll have a better camp.

“At the end of the day I’m still a kid and still trying to learn as I go.”

Although a handful of players every decade make the jump look easy, the step from junior to the NHL is massive.

“In junior I could dominate to a completely different extent than here,” he said.

“I’m not the guy who is going to step in at 18 and dominate every shift.

“Two completely different things.

“I’ve learned I’ve got to keep myself honest when I’m here in terms of gaps. You can’t kind of cheat the game the same way you can take a few strides off in junior.

“You’re not trying to do something cool every time you touch the puck, but there’s definitely a time and place for that.”

He’ll learn quickly.

He’s too smart a player not to take this rather sobering experience and turn it into a motivator moving forward.

“I don’t think I had the best camp — I think I could have given more, but it was all positive from them,” said Parekh of his exit meeting with team brass.

“I’m pretty hard on myself. I always give myself a little crap there. But they’re really happy with me.

“They’re really excited for what the future holds.”

An early exit from hist first camp won’t change that.

NOTES: Nazam Kadri left practice early Friday after colliding with Blake Coleman, but Huska believes his top centre avoided significant injury on the play. Jake Bean, Martin Pospisil and Matt Coronato all missed practice with lower body injuries, but nothing is serious. Kevin Bahl, the key player in the Jacob Markstrom trade, skated with the team for the first time in camp following a lower body ailment.