Prospects

Calgary Flames Prospect Roundup: Zayne Parekh reaching historic levels

Photo of James William James WilliamMarch 4, 2025
6 minutes read

How can I not talk about Saginaw Spirit blueliner Zayne Parekh again? He just keeps finding more in the tank and outproducing his previous week. This time, it’s 10 points in three games to jump from 1.65 points per game to 1.75. Zayne deserves all the hype we’re giving him and then some!

With a late goal in Sunday’s thumping of the North Bay Battalion, Parekh checked off three boxes:

  1. He tied his OHL career-high of 96 points in a season from last year in 11 fewer games.
  2. He reached the 30-goal mark for the second time in as many seasons.
  3. He became the second defenceman in OHL/OHA history to record two 30-goal seasons. The other? Just someone named Bobby Orr 59 years ago.

There’s so much to talk about this week, so let’s get to it!

Welcome to The Win Column’s Calgary Flames prospect update. Each week, we’ll take a dive into how the Flames’ prospects have done in their respective leagues. We have defined a prospect as a skater who has played fewer than 65 NHL games and is younger than 25 years of age.

All data is from QuantHockey and EliteProspects. We also use an NHLe calculator built by Christian Roatis (@Croatis), which is used to estimate a player’s equivalent point total in the NHL based on how they are performing in their respective league. The calculator uses the difficulty of the given league combined with the ease at which a player puts up points to determine the NHLe.

Flames prospect happenings

AHL

  • The Calgary Wranglers found some goal-scoring this week with seven in three games but still stumbled to a 1–2–0 record.
  • Rory Kerins maintained his team goal-scoring lead, burying another three. He scored twice on six shots in Saturday’s 8–4 loss. Kerins now has 25 goals and 43 points in 45 games. Check out the silky smooth skating to beat the defender to the net:
  • After being recalled by the Flames on February 22, Adam Klapka finally saw game action on Sunday. He had 7:47 time on ice, recording two hits and one blocked shot.
  • Winger Parker Bell was ripping the puck this week, firing 13 shots on goal. He was rewarded with a pair of goals and is up to six goals and 11 points in 45 games. Not bad for the rookie! Nice shot on this one with some solid work by the blueliners:
  • Sam Honzek was out of the lineup with an injury all week. The 2023 first-rounder has an impressive 18 points in 40 games as a rookie.
  • Jeremie Poirier picked up three helpers from the blue line, including a pair in Saturday’s loss. He now has 29 points in 53 games. Here’s some nice board work that resulted in a goal:
  • Rookie defenceman Hunter Brzustewicz picked up another two assists, moving up to 22 points on the year through 53 games.
  • Another blueliner who had two assists this week is Yan Kuznetsov. He’s up to 16 points in 54 games. Kuzy got on the board thanks to this deflection by Bell:
  • Goaltender Waltteri Ignatjew was impressive in Friday’s win, stopping 36 of 38 shots on goal. Unfortunately, he was lit up to the tune of three goals on 15 shots the next night after relieving Devin Cooley of the net. Ignatjew sports a 10–5–3 record with a 3.58 goals against average and a 0.888 save percentage on the year.

Europe

  • CSKA Moscow blueliner Nikita Okhotyuk helped his team to a perfect 3–0–0 week. He recorded an assist—his ninth point of the year—as well as four blocked shots and three hits.
  • Daniil Chechelev was between the pipes for Unison-Moscow’s 2–1 loss yesterday. He played well—stopping 28 of 30—but just didn’t have the scoring support. He has a 1–4–1 record with a 3.54 GAA and a 0.886 SV% through 10 games in the VHL so far this year.
  • Netminder Yegor Yegorov had a solid week for Krylya Sovetov, who were 1–0–1 this week. Funny enough, only his record changed. He’s now 7–9–0 in the MHL with a 2.90 GAA and a 0.934 SV%.
  • Kirill Zarubin helped backstop Mikhailov Academy to an undefeated 4–0–0 week. He allowed three goals on 54 shots across two games but somehow was the less impressive goalie for his team. His partner in goal collected two shutouts. Zarubin is up to a 10–8–0 record with a 2.27 GAA and a 0.934 SV% in the MHL.

NCAA

  • Aydar Suniev scored a goal and three points, helping UMass to a 2–0–0 week. He’s up to 33 points in 29 games, well behind Cole O’Hara’s team-leading 47 points now. Excellent hand-eye coordination to deflect this one in:
  • Penn State was 1–1–0, backstopped in both games by Arsenii Sergeev. Sergeev is now 15–7–4 in the NCAA and saw his numbers dip to a 2.57 GAA and a 0.918 SV%.
  • The University of North Dakota went 1–1–0 this week, and Cade Littler was pretty much a non-factor, recording a blocked shot and a 3–5 faceoff record.
  • No games for Trevor Hoskin and Niagara University this week. They’re back in action this Friday for the Atlantic Hockey America Championship.

OHL

  • The ever-impressive Zayne Parekh picked up a whopping 10 points in three games this week, helping Saginaw to a 2–0–1 record. He had at least two points in each game, with four in each of the wins. Parekh tied last season’s career-best of 96 points and is now eyeing 100. He sits sixth in OHL scoring and first among defencemen.
  • Jacob Battaglia scored three times as the Kingston Frontenacs went 1–1–0. His 36 goals is tied for sixth in the OHL, and he’s up to 80 points now in 59 games. Solid D+1 for the 2024 second-rounder. Check out his first of two goals in this game:
  • We’ve seen a noticeable downtick in blueliner Henry Mews’ production since joining the Sudbury Wolves at the deadline this year. He had two points in three games this week as the Wolves dropped two of their three games, finishing the week 1–2–0. Mews still boasts a career-best 75 points in 59 games.
  • Luke Misa was quiet this week, with just one point through three games. The Brampton Steelheads still managed to grab five of six points, though, going 2–0–1. He’s still having an impressive campaign, with 32 goals and 78 points in 59 games.

QMJHL

  • Defenceman Etienne Morin recorded three helpers to reach the 50-point mark for the second time in his career. He helped the Moncton Wildcats to a 3–0–0 week. Nice stretch feed here to help call the game:
  • No games for Matvei Gridin this week; the Shawinigan Cataractes were 1–0–2 in his absence. Gridin has 29 goals and 66 points in 49 games on the year.

WHL

  • Jaden Lipinski had four points in as many games this week as the Vancouver Giants went 1–2–1. Lipinski remains just one point shy of the point-per-game mark, with 51 in 52. Great finish on the shorthanded breakaway:
  • The Saskatoon Blades were 1–2–0, with Hunter Laing recording only one goal. He has 19 goals and 35 points in 55 games this year.
  • Just one point through three games for blueliner Axel Hurtig, but the Calgary Hitmen were 2–0–1 with two shutouts. Hurtig is up to 14 points in 47 games.
  • Last but not least, defenceman Eric Jamieson scored another pair of goals for the Everett Silvertips, helping them to a 2–0–0 week. He’s up to 14 goals and 34 points in 59 games.

NHLe Leaderboard

NHLe is a metric used to estimate a player’s offensive output at the NHL level from their point totals in their respective league. Here are the Flames’ current top five (bracketed numbers denote movement from the previous week):

  1. Zayne Parekh: 46.4 (Same)
  2. Rory Kerins: 38.3 (Same)
  3. Aydar Suniev: 36.7 (+2)
  4. Jacob Battaglia: 36.0 (Same)
  5. Luke Misa: 35.0 (-2)

Overall regular season totals for Flames prospects

Forwards

PlayerPositionGPGAPP/GPPIMNHLeTeamLeague
Andrew BashaLW23920291.263031.2Medicine Hat TigersWHL
Jacob BattagliaRW/LW593644801.363236.0Kingston FrontenacsOHL
Parker BellLW4565110.2489.6Calgary WranglersAHL
Lucas CionaLW50611170.346513.5Calgary WranglersAHL
Matvei GridinRW492937661.352731.4Shawinigan CataractesQMJHL
Samuel HonzekC/LW40711180.451817.9Calgary WranglersAHL
Trevor HoskinC/RW331225371.1210N/ANiagara UniversityNCAA
Rory KerinsC/LW452518430.961438.3Calgary WranglersAHL
Adam KlapkaRW/LW311312250.815032.3Calgary WranglersAHL
Hunter LaingC551916350.643115.8Prince George Cougars/Saskatoon BladesWHL
Jaden LipinskiC20000.0000.0Calgary WranglersAHL
521437510.983224.3Vancouver GiantsWHL
Cade LittlerC304260.20217.2University of North DakotaNCAA
Luke MisaC593246781.32435.0Brampton SteelheadsOHL
William StromgrenLW521227390.751029.9Calgary WranglersAHL
Aydar SunievLW291716331.142236.7UMassNCAA

Defencemen

PlayerPositionGPGAPP/GPPIMNHLeTeamLeague
Hunter BrzustewiczRHD53418220.42616.7Calgary WranglersAHL
Artyom GrushnikovLHD461450.11224.4Calgary WranglersAHL
Axel HurtigLHD47410140.30257.4Calgary HitmenWHL
Eric JamiesonLHD591420340.585914.4Everett SilvertipsWHL
Joni JurmoLHD110000.0040.0Calgary WranglersAHL
1228100.834N/ARapid City RushECHL
Yan KuznetsovLHD54313160.302612.0Calgary WranglersAHL
Henry MewsRHD591461751.277233.6Ottawa 67’s/Sudbury WolvesOHL
Etienne MorinLHD541238500.933221.7Moncton WildcatsQMJHL
Nikita OkhotyukLHD582790.163010.5CSKA MoskvaKHL
Zayne ParekhRHD553066961.758946.4Saginaw SpiritOHL
Jeremie PoirierLHD53425290.553821.9Calgary WranglersAHL
Ilya SolovyovLHD43615210.491619.5Calgary WranglersAHL

Goalies

PlayerPositionGPGAASV%TeamLeague
Daniil ChechelevG103.540.886Yunison-MoskvaVHL
Waltteri IgnatjewG193.580.888Calgary WranglersAHL
Arsenii SergeevG272.570.918Penn State UniversityNCAA
Yegor YegorovG43.380.870HK TambovVHL
83.070.891MHK TambovNMHL
182.900.911MHK Krylia Sovetov MoskvaMHL
Kirill ZarubinG182.270.934AKM TulaMHL

Following the prospects

Staying up to date with the development of prospects is no easy task. Follow along throughout the season for the latest happenings in the entire Flames’ development pipelines!

Photo of James William James WilliamMarch 4, 2025
6 minutes read
Photo of James William

James William

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