As we move into day 3 of our Draft Profiles and the last one of this week, we’ve seen a generalist, a defensive project previously, so let’s take a look at a player who finds being a defenseman as more of a suggestion and scoring as a trivial matter.
Let’s all meet Zayne Parekh!
Who is He?
Zayne Parekh is a Canadian-born, Right-Handed Defenseman who measures in at 6’0, and weighs in at 181 pounds. He plays in the OHL for the Saginaw Spirit.
What’s He Good At?
SCORING. Oh my god he is so good at scoring.
Zayne Parekh broke a record for scoring among 17 year olds in the OHL last year with 21 goals in 50 games, and followed that up this year with 33 goals in 66 games. While Parekh’s goalscoring is already enormously impressive indeed, what’s put him in the top 10 of this draft is that his already impressive offensive capabilities have been massively improved by a dimension of playmaking, improved shooting, and excellent passing, going from a pretty good offense-first defender to the leading point-getter and goalscorer among all defensemen in the OHL this year.
Parekh’s impressive point totals have come from an utter fearlessness with the puck. He has incredible puck-handling and stickwork that can confound backcheckers, and a hard, accurate shot that he can either use from a huge slapper, or a wrister; and he makes it hard for goalies to predict his next move. Complimenting that is Parekh’s ability to read defenses whilst moving around in the offensive zone, and then open them up with a well-placed pass as well as a devastating wrister; which critically stays low for opportunities to create rebounds off the goalies pads as well as off the back boards. Naturally, all of this together has Parekh as the perfect power play QB, but he found plenty of success at even strength as well; being a key part of Saginaw’s success this year and will likely be called upon to be moreso as Saginaw gets to host the CHL’s Memorial Cup.
What Does he Need to Work On?
Skating…which feels almost wrong, somehow?
You’d think a guy like Parekh would be a waterbug out there with a 90+ point season under his belt, but while his skating agility is perfectly fine, he can escape danger and close down plays (and keep the puck in on the blueline. Real important for his game.) using it…Parekh’s top speed is unfortunately slightly behind that of his peers in this draft. He’s fine in the corners and in tight situations, but in open ice his actual top speed isn’t anything to write home about. As a result, he’s ultimately lot more dependent on maneuverability and his passing/playmaking to do a lot of the work.
There’s also the reality of being the offense-first defender; his actual backchecking can be a bit raw. While again, he’s perfectly fine in board battles and can maneuver away from forecheckers pretty well, sometimes he can get caught moving up-ice a little too ahead of the play and create situations where the other team can turn up ice and get a scoring chance. That’s rough on it’s own, but since he’s struggling with top-speeds, he will need to figure out a way to coax more out of his stride, or he’ll get burned badly by enterprising forwards looking to explode out into open ice.
We as Kraken fans have seen plenty of that kind of thing. It’s rough.
My Verdict
Silayev and Parekh are two sides of a coin; a project that might take a minute to bear fruit, but if you put in the work, and really hammer down on the things he struggles with (which, admittedly, is a pretty big one for the sport), then Parekh could be game-changing as a defender for the Kraken. Poor power plays could be a thing of the past, and man…wouldn’t that be something. Parekh has all the tools necessary to be a real catch for whoever drafts him.
That said, if he’s drafted, I would imagine he’d take a couple of years to adjust in the OHL and AHL. Parekh’s issues are small, but that skating issue really is something that needs to be figured out in order for him to truly succeed. I think the Kraken’s training staff could do it. They just have to believe that too.
…Oh yeah, and as I’ve said earlier; you probably shouldn’t get attached. Any one of the last three men I’ve mentioned could be gone before Seattle takes him.
Tune in next week, as we look at the following players: Zeev Buium, Carter Yakemchuk, and Artyom Levshunov. Week after? Nothin’ but forwards.
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