Still no jeans, but Zayne Parekh grinding this summer, looking to make the Calgary Flames
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Luke Misa and Trevor Hoskin have been known to rock a little denim, though.
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And Zayne Parekh, who got this line of questioning started when MacKenzie Weegar dropped the bombshell reveal in April that the young blueliner didn't have jeans in his wardrobe?
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'No, eventually I'm going to have to (buy a pair), probably better to get it done now,' Parekh said. 'I actually went to the mall to buy some and was going to get dress shoes, too, and I didn't get a thing.'
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Are there any conclusions to be drawn about the pants preferences of young hockey players through this extremely small sample size survey of Flames prospects? Probably not.
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'I mean, obviously hockey players have big legs,' Suniev mused. 'I don't think many hockey players own jeans.'
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There are bigger things on the minds of the young future Flames who have assembled this week for development camp at WinSport. For Parekh, in particular, there are a lot of eyeballs on him as he continues preparing for his second training camp.
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The No. 9 overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft left last year's camp calling it a humbling experience. It revealed to him, in no uncertain terms, how far he still had to go before he was ready to take his out-of-this-world junior numbers and replicate them in the pros.
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In September, though, Parekh will be looking to book his place on the Flames roster for next season.
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'I mean, everyone knows that for me, I'm trying to play in the NHL,' Parekh said Wednesday. 'All my peers know that. I have a great support group and everybody's pushing me every day and I'm pretty hard on myself, too. I'm going to keep working so that in the fall, it's pretty far away but I've gotta have a good camp.'
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On some level, Parekh needs to make the Flames roster.
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He's too young to play in the AHL, but there's also nothing left for him to accomplish in junior. He led all CHL defencemen in scoring with 107 points last season and became the first OHL blueliner to record multiple 30-goal seasons since Bobby Orr, who did it from 1964-66.
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The next couple months of summer training are going to be critical for getting himself ready for the challenge. He'll be skating with a group of NHLers in Toronto that's led by Mitch Marner while working on getting leaner and faster.
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