Flames Takeaways: Parekh’s return could spark slumping offence

Zayne Parekh is back with the Calgary Flames, and in very short order, the club needs to get him back in the lineup.

The 19-year-old returned to the club Wednesday after his record-setting performance at the world juniors, but didn’t play due to concern over a hit he took in Canada’s loss to Czechia.

When asked when the 19-year-old will get back in the lineup to take another shot at trying to become an NHL regular, Flames coach Ryan Huska pointed to the collision.

"At some point,” he said.

“He did get a little bit banged up in that tournament, so he's being evaluated by our people this morning." 

When he’s deemed healthy, the Flames need to get him back in the bigs to see if the swagger he rediscovered in Minnesota can translate into having any sort of impact on a power-play unit that is the league’s most anemic.

Safety first when it comes to ensuring the undersized defenceman is ready to once again endure the rigours of playing against men, but given how slippery a slope the Flames seem to be on with three losses in a row, it’s worth a try.

The Flames went 0-for-4 with the man advantage in Wednesday’s 4-1 loss in Montreal, failing to provide any sort of spark in a game that was only close through a scoreless first period.

That’s three games in a row the Flames' power play has been shut out.

Parekh managed to help Canada’s power play operate at an over 50 per cent success rate, so the Flames need to hand him the keys to Calgary’s sputtering group.

Parekh took a heavy hit and went immediately to the dressing room in Canada’s loss to Czechia, but returned to finish the game. There was some speculation he wouldn’t play in the bronze medal game, but he toughed it out to break the tourney scoring record for Canadian defencemen.  

Prior to the Christmas tourney, Parekh was shelved for most of November and December due to an upper-body injury sustained from a heavy hit by Nick Foligno on Nov. 8.    

At 6-14-2, the Flames are the NHL’s worst road team, and with four more games left on this eastern roadie, the Flames appear to be on the precipice of yet another one of their epic slides.

So what is there to lose by inserting a power-play specialist into a lineup that has a power-play unit sputtering along at 14.1 per cent?

Yes, it’s a tall task to ask of a teenager who had one assist in 11 NHL games before being loaned to Team Canada.

There's no guarantee he'll suddenly be able to take the next step.

But now is a good time to give him that chance.

Without the benefit of any practice time with the club, Thursday in Boston is probably too soon.

The Flames will get a full skate in on Friday, ahead of the matinee in Pittsburgh, and will practise again Monday, before Tuesday's game in Columbus. That might be the ideal launching point.

If Parekh isn’t able to make inroads upon his eventual return, Plan B could involve him eventually sitting for five games and then doing a two-week/five-game conditioning stint in the AHL.

In an effort to protect his psyche and his safety, Plan C could involve a return to junior.

With that as a long-shot possibility, it will still be interesting to see if Saginaw trades his OHL rights to a contender by Friday’s deadline, giving the Flames an option to send him off on a quest for another Memorial Cup.

Flames prospect Jacob Battaglia was recently traded for eight draft picks, which is the sort of monstrous package that would likely be required to land Parekh’s rights. 
However, the deal would have to include plenty of conditional picks, as it is far from a guarantee he’ll return to junior.

Again, the goal is for Parekh to gain traction in the NHL.

That possibility increases if the team continues to play as poorly as it has the last three games, falling out of the playoff picture and opening the door for more of a youth movement down the stretch.

Stromgren debuts

After spending parts of four seasons in the AHL, 22-year-old William Stromgren made his NHL debut Wednesday, complete with a rookie lap his parents had to watch from Sweden due to a snowstorm there.

“I’m a little ticklish for sure,” said the native of Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, beforehand.

“But it’s all just butterflies, I think. It’s an unreal moment.”

Despite earning his call-up as a talented playmaker with the Wranglers, the Flames’ second-round pick from 2021 was put in a fourth-line role with Morgan Frost and Ryan Lomberg on Wednesday.

Welcomed to the NHL with a hard hit by Arber Xhekaj on his first shift, he was able to draw two penalties in eight minutes of ice time, including a slash by Brendan Gallagher and a hook by Phillip Danault. He had no shots on goal and was downtrodden after the game, insisting he needs to bring more.

The Lines

Big line changes by Huska saw Adam Klapka finally rewarded for being one of the team’s most effective and entertaining forwards of late, joining a top line that saw Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri reunited. By night’s end, the big man was replaced by Joel Farabee.

Justin Kirkland and Brayden Pachal were healthy scratches, replaced by Stromgren and Hunter Brzustewicz, who managed to pick up his first NHL point with an assist on Farabee’s snipe.

Zary was moved back to the middle, and Frost was demoted to the fourth line.

None of it worked, so the lines were put in a blender in the third, opening the door for more changes Thursday in Boston.

Huberdeau-Kadri-Klapka
Coleman-Backlund-Coronato
Sharangovich-Zary-Farabee
Lomberg-Frost-Stromgren
Bahl-Andersson
Kuznetsov-Weegar
Hanley-Brzustewicz
Wolf
Cooley