20-year-old blueliner looks like a different player from the one we saw last season, while Yegor Sharangovich and Maxim Tsyplakov also impress.

If that’s the Zayne Parekh we’re going to get this year, get ready for some fun this season.

The defenceman will have to do it against teams that are a lot more NHL-seasoned than the squad of mostly AHLers the Vancouver Canucks rolled out on Tuesday night at the Saddledome, of course. 

But Parekh looked like a different player from the one we saw last season in the Flames’ 3-1 exhibition win. The way he skated, the way he saw the ice, the way he controlled the offensive zone … it looked a lot more like the guy who dominated the OHL two years ago than the rookie who was finding his feet in the NHL as a teenager in 2025-26.

He looked good, in other words, especially with the puck on the stick in the offensive zone.

“Yeah, I felt the way it looked,” Parekh said post-game. “Don’t want to get too high or too low, but just trying to build my game and make plays.”

There’s only so much anyone can take from a game between a Flames group that will likely start the regular season together and a Canucks team that was largely comprised of players who will be in the AHL, but it was nonetheless an encouraging performance from the young blueliner.

“I thought he played well tonight,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “I thought his first exhibition game he tried to do a lot with the puck, and tonight I thought he made plays that were there and because of that he looked really good on both ends of the ice tonight.”

Dustin Wolf didn’t have much to do against the Canucks.

He faced only nine shots, allowing one goal.

On the one hand, that’s a reflection of a solid defensive performance from his teammates.

On the other, Huska wouldn’t have minded if his starting goalie got a little more work in.

“It’s the way it goes, his next game he’s going to get a lot of shots,” Huska said.

Early in the second period, Ilya Safonov gave Parekh a solid shove in front of the Flames net. The Flames obviously don’t want the 20-year-old getting too involved in the after-the-whistle stuff, so it was up to one of his teammates to come to his defence.

From across the ice came … Yegor Sharangovich.

It’s not what you’d expect from the Belarusian winger, but he got right in there and stood on business.

“Loved it,” Huska said. “I felt he was engaged all night. He did a lot of great things, it was one of those nights where you kind of wish he got rewarded on the scoresheet because I thought he worked hard, I thought he was competitive and when you see him doing things like that, it’s totally out of his comfort zone. I loved it, I thought it was great.”

On Tuesday morning, Huska admitted he was eager to see newcomer Maxim Tsyplakov, who came over in the trade that sent Blake Coleman to the Minnesota Wild.

He just wasn’t a player Huska knew a tonne about beforehand.

Playing on a line with Adam Klapka and Martin Pospisil, Tsyplakov did a little of everything and were engaged physically throughout the night.