After a historic 107-point regular season, Zayne Parekh has continued his torrid place in the OHL playoffs. His Saginaw Spirit are currently in a big-time 3–1 hole in their series, but if it weren’t for Parekh the series would’ve been over by now.
The 2024 ninth overall pick has put his team on his back, looking like the only difference maker for his team all series. If this is it for Parekh in the OHL, at least he’s going out doing everything he can to keep his team afloat.
Saginaw’s leading scorer
So far, through four games in the series, Parekh is pacing his team with seven points, including an overtime winner in Game 3. Yes, that includes outscoring top 2025 NHL prospect and OHL leading scorer Michael Misa, whose production has fallen off a cliff in the playoffs.
| Defenceman | Goals | Assists | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zayne Parekh | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| Calem Mangone | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Igor Chernyshov | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Kristian Epperson | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Liam Storch | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Michael Misa | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Despite Misa disappearing in the playoffs, Parekh is still producing at nearly two points per game in the series, putting his team offence on his back. Only 20-year-old over-ager Calem Mangone is within a point of Parekh, with everyone else being two points or more behind him through four games.
Parekh is yet to go pointless in the series, posting at least one point in all four games. In particular his effort in the Spirit’s lone win of the series, a 3–2 overtime win, included him scoring two of his teams goals, and assisting on the other. The Spirit have scored 16 goals in four games, and Parekh has been in on seven of them. Without Parekh this series is over.
Parekh is currently first on the Spirit in assists with five, and second on the team in goals with two. As shown below, he’s single handedly creating offence right now for a team that is struggling to do much of anything without him.
THE SPIRIT STRIKE FIRST🦅✨@NHLFlames prospect Zayne Parekh connects with Kristian Epperson on the back door, and Epperson buries it to give @SpiritHockey an early 1–0 lead!🚨#OHLPlayoffs | @CHLHockey | #Flames pic.twitter.com/ZN07UCRvuu
— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) April 3, 2025
From the blueline, Parekh is carrying the load to an even higher degree. To say Saginaw’s defence is weak after Parekh would be an understatement. The 19-year-old is pretty much the only thing going for the Spirit defence right now.
| Defenceman | Goals | Assists | Points | Shots |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zayne Parekh | 2 | 5 | 7 | 15 |
| Graydon Jones | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Josh Glavin | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| James Guo | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Hayden Barch | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| PJ Forgione | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
Through four games, Parekh’s two goals are more than the entire Spirit blueline combined, with only one other defender posting a goal in the series. His seven points are only two fewer than the rest of the blueline combined. Between the other five regular blueliners on the roster, they’ve contributed 15 shots on net. Parekh has 15 shots on his own.
Top of the OHL
Not only is Parekh pacing his team, he’s also one of the top blueline scorers in the entire OHL playoffs despite his team only having one win. Here’s the current top five.
| Defenceman | Goals | Assists | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sam Dickinson | 3 | 6 | 9 |
| Zayne Parekh | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| Tristan Bertucci | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Luca Marrelli | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| Matthew Virgilio | 1 | 5 | 6 |
So far, Parekh is currently sitting alone in second place in the OHL among defencemen for points with seven, despite his team being down 3–1 in their series. The only defender with more points is Sam Dickinson, who plays for the absolutely loaded London Knights. Dickinson’s Knights just swept their first round series while scoring 27 goals across the four games.
For context the Spirit have just one win in four games, and have only scored 16 goals. The Knights meanwhile have have four players with at least seven points in the playoffs. The Spirit have one—Parekh.
Parekh’s doing everything he can
The Spirit’s season looks all but over, but that doesn’t mean Zayne Parekh isn’t going out on a high note. He’s single-handedly carrying his team’s offence right now, and without him, the Spirit would already be on the golf course right now. If he can’t get some help in Game 5, we could be seeing Parekh in Calgary sooner than later.
