With 107 points (33 goals and 74 assists) to his name, Zayne Parekh led the CHL blueliners last season, and also became the first OHL D-Man to post multiple 30-goal seasons since the great Bobby Orr did it in the 1960s. Naturally, when the 19-year-old Calgary Flames prospect was named in Team Canada’s World Junior Camp showcase roster, fans weren’t surprised. However, it looks like fate had different plans for the up-and-coming NHL star.

The 2025 World Junior Camp Showcase kicked off in Minnesota last Sunday and will conclude this Saturday. For Parekh, it would have been an excellent opportunity to sharpen his skills for a scintillating NHL career. But alas, not everything works out as we plan it to.

In a post on X from July 29 by the official Calgary Flames handle, Parekh’s misfortune has been shared. “For precautionary reasons, Zayne Parekh will not participate in the Team Canada World Junior camp due to a lower body injury,” the social media update reveals, while also noting that the 9th overall pick of the 2024 NHL draft has returned to the Flames HQ to be evaluated by the team’s medical staff.

Parekh made his NHL debut last season against the LA Kings in Calgary’s final game of the regular season and even scored a goal. The social media post on X underscores that his precautionary pulling out from the World Junior Camp comes in lieu of the young Turk being hopeful to play in the NHL for a full season in 2025-26, as well as full participation in the Calgary Flames camp in September.

Despite still being a teen, the Markham, Ontario, native already has a lot of national team exposure. This year’s World Junior Camp would have been Parekh’s second interaction with the Canadian national junior team after making an appearance at the pre-tournament camp last year. The hockey blueliner also represented Canada at the U17 World Hockey Challenge in 2022 and attended Canada’s World Championship team camp in the spring right after making his NHL debut.

Before pulling out from this year’s WJC showcase, Parekh also participated in two full practice sessions. That should come as some solace. But still, we’d imagine that representing the country at the IIHF World Junior Championships in December was the biggest thing the NHL defenseman was looking forward to after being named to the Team Canada roster for the World Junior Camp. “It’d be awesome, hopefully I’m playing in Calgary around that time,” Parekh told TSN. “I guess my future is a little up in the air right now, but my goal is to play in Calgary for the whole year.” Well, that could actually be the case.

The NHL can make up for the WJC heartbreak for Parekh

Despite his young age, Parekh has been named in the CHL’s All-Star team twice and boasts a gold medal at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup. His spectacular 107-point 2024-25 season with the Saginaw Spirit was the second consecutive 100-point season of his hockey career. Easy to surmise that the 19-year-old is making many believe that he could become an NHL great in the near future.

“Parekh is one of the top prospects who could end up playing in the NHL full-time this season. But after getting cut from Canada’s roster back in December, you have to think Parekh wouldn’t mind getting a crack at chasing gold,” wrote Daily Faceoff‘s Steven Ellis on how Zayne would love to represent the country at the IIHF Juniors, maybe even more than representing the Flames in the NHL. The fact that he was named the Defenseman of the Year in both the OHL and the CHL in the 2023-24 season only goes on to show that Ellis may not be too far-fetched in his judgment.

But you should believe that Zayne wouldn’t let go of the dream of representing the country at the World Junior Championships next year. After all, the US is looking for a three-peat, and 18-year-old New York Islanders star Cole Eiserman is already making tall claims. Do you think the winger’s boastful words will fuel Parekh’s determination to make it to the Team Canada roster despite the WJC setback?