Earlier in the off-season, I posted a story on why it was very important to sign defenceman Kevin Bahl.
What I didn't factor in that time was Bahl, a southpaw, would perhaps be the number one defensive pairing for upcoming rookie Zayne Parekh.
The 25-year-old is fresh off signing a brand new deal and has stated he is looking forward to this upcoming season in Calgary after a productive last season where he set a career-high in goals, assists and points.
The BC-native's pairing with Rasmus Andersson spent the most time on the ice this past season for the team and the third-most in the league. While the duo did produce the seventh-highest expected Goals For (xGF) and fourth-highest Shots For (SF) in the league for players with 200 or more minutes on the ice according to Natural Stat Trick, they also gave up the second-most Goals Against (GA).
How about we switch it up, and replace the rugged Swede with Parekh?
In the season finale last year, Parekh played most of his minutes with Bahl producing three goals, including one by himself.
The 19-year-old will thrive under the mentorship of Bahl and off the ice under Andersson.
Parekh is as good of a junior hockey player coming into the big boys' club as it gets. The former Saginaw Spirit is two-time CHL First-Team All-Star and in both instances scored the most goals and points by a defenceman in the OHL.
This duo will prove to be a top-four pairing that will be a game-changer on both ends of the ice. It may not even be out of the realm of possibility for Calgary to have a Calder finalist and a Norris candidate in the same pairing. After all, iron sharpens iron, and both players will only just make each other better.
And best of all, working alongside a talented player like Parekh will sweeten the soured relations between the Flames and Andersson.