CALGARY — The Calgary Flames will loan Zayne Parekh to Team Canada for the World Junior Championship next month, Sportsnet has learned.
If he’s healthy enough.
Dealing with an upper-body injury sustained almost two weeks ago when he was hit awkwardly into the boards by Chicago’s Nick Foligno, Parekh will not join the Flames on their 11-day road trip starting Sunday in Vancouver.
The team returns Dec. 3, which leaves just four Flames home games between then and the opening of Team Canada’s 10-day camp in Niagara Falls, Ont., starting Dec. 12.
The hope is that the 19-year-old defenceman will be ready to play at least a few of those NHL games before leaving the Flames to chase gold at the 10-team tourney in Minnesota, starting Dec. 26.
The Flames listed Parekh as week-to-week following the injury, and will be taking their time to ensure he is 100 per cent healthy before he’s given his next game assignment.
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“It’s going to be a while, for sure,” Flames GM Craig Conroy said Tuesday of his first-rounder’s mending time.
“We’ve got to make sure he’s going to be OK. We’ve got to make sure we’re a little more cautious with him, versus someone a little older.”
A Team Canada official confirmed in rare exceptions it could wait as late as Dec. 20 for a player to join the team, with an eye on giving the player enough time to play in at least two exhibition games.
After consecutive quarterfinal exits, the Canadian camp will be much different than years past, as a group smaller than the 32 players invited last year will assemble for more of a training camp than a selection camp.
That has to be comforting to Parekh, who was a late addition to Team Canada’s early December training camp last year, only to be cut from the squad.
When asked before the start of the Flames training camp what a successful season would look like for him, Parekh said, “Playing in the NHL the whole year, that’s the goal.”
When asked then if he would go to the world juniors if sent by the Flames, he smiled.
“I mean, yeah, I’d have to go — I can’t not go,” he said.
“If they send me there, I’ll be going.
“Obviously, I want to play here the whole year, but at the end of the day, even though I have a part in that decision, I think it’s up to them.”
It’s a no-brainer, given how this season has unfolded for the junior star.
Prohibited by the expiring CBA from playing in the AHL as a 19-year-old, Parekh has been stuck in developmental purgatory this season, as he’s too good to return to junior and not ready to play with the world’s best pros.
Struggling defensively, and unable to contribute offensively, Parekh has just one assist in 11 games this season, averaging less than 15 minutes a night with various partners on the NHL’s last-place team.
He’s been in and out of the Flames lineup, as a legion of Flames fans debate the path forward.
A stint at the world juniors has always been a strong possibility, and given the need to put Parekh in a more comfortable environment, the idea is for him to play meaningful minutes in a high-intensity tourney where he’ll have a chance to regain some of the swagger that made him a two-time 30-goal defenceman in the OHL.
Being left off last year’s Canadian team, despite being the nation’s highest-scoring defenceman, gave him increased motivation down the stretch last season to prove doubters wrong.
“It’s every kid’s dream to play on the national team, so when you kind of get cut from that and not really given a look, it’s never a good feeling,” he said in the fall.
“I guess I was just trying to prove it to myself towards the end of (last) year that I’m a good player.”
Looks like he’ll get another chance again soon.
from Sportsnet.ca
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