Flames fan guide to world juniors: Pressure on Parekh, Reschny’s role and more

They’ll be future forces for the Calgary Flames. 

For the next couple of weeks, however, their sole focus is to be good as gold for Team Canada at the world junior hockey championship. 

For the first time in five years, the Flames have a pair of prospects on Canada’s roster for a tournament that is synonymous with the holiday season. 

The brass at the Saddledome figure that this experience will be big-time beneficial for Zayne Parekh, which is why they agreed to loan the rookie blue-liner to his national squad. 

The news became twice as nice when Cole Reschny, a first-round pick from this past summer, cracked Canada’s forward cast. 

Parekh, Reschny & Co. will open the round-robin with a Boxing Day battle against Czechia. Craig Conroy, who envisions both as long-term building blocks, has a trip booked to Minneapolis to watch some of the action. It will double as a scouting mission for Calgary’s general manager, a chance for a live look at some of the top talents available in the 2026 NHL Draft. 

The last time the Flames had multiple players wear the Maple Leaf at the world juniors was December 2020/January 2021, when Jakob Pelletier and Connor Zary shared this spotlight. 

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity,” Zary said, reminiscing on a silver showing. “Obviously they get to have a crowd and we didn’t during COVID, but it’s so special when you’re playing for your country. I think that’s such a fun thing.

“I know playing with Pelts for four years or so was awesome after playing world juniors together. I think you build lifelong friendships, especially when you’re with a guy who you’ll hopefully get to suit up with for however many years after.”

From a Flames-centric standpoint, here’s all you need to know about this latest instalment of the annual Under-20 showdown …

Pressure on Parekh?

There seems to be a widespread assumption that Parekh, after spending the past two-and-half months on an NHL roster, should dominate at this tournament.

Prior to departure, he even predicted a trip to world juniors could “probably jumpstart my season.”

Parekh, 19, is poised to patrol the right side on Canada’s lead defence pairing and to quarterback the top power-play unit, so he’ll certainly have an opportunity to play a starring role.

But how will the staff at the Saddledome measure his success? What would make this a turning-point type of experience for a blue-line blue-chipper who put up eye-popping stats in the OHL last winter but hasn’t had the immediate impact that he was undoubtedly expecting of himself as a rookie in Calgary?   

“I think, first, Canada winning gold. You know winning is going to be the ultimate thing for Canada,” Conroy replied. “And then for him, it’s to be a big part of that. It’s not all about points. But for sure, if he’s going to be on the power-play, he’s going to have to produce if they’re going to have success.”

The ninth-overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, Parekh has managed only one point — an assist on the man-advantage — in 11 appearances with the Flames this fall.

He also missed about a month due to injury, cleared just in time for world-junior training camp.

Parekh, who hails from Nobleton, Ont., was partnered throughout pre-tournament action with Cameron Reid. A hint that the Flames’ prized prospect is finding some offensive swagger, he piled up four points — one goal and three helpers — as Canada wrapped its tuneup schedule Tuesday with a drubbing of Denmark.

“Everyone knows Zayne is a high-end offensive player, but they’re going to need him to check and they’re going to need him to kill plays and they’re going to need him to make sure that the right play is made at the right time,” stressed Flames director of player development Ray Edwards. “I think it’s just getting his head around that overall game and then coming out of it feeling like he was an impactful player throughout the tournament.

“If you ask him, it’s gold medal all day long. For us, from a development standpoint, we just want to get him going and get him playing the way we know he can. And because of all the time that he’s missed, it’s still a challenge. Everyone understands he was in the NHL, but this is a top tournament with top players. This isn’t just going to him jumping in there and automatically having success. He’s going to have to work at it. He’s going to have to dig in and make sure that his game is tight so that he’s playing at a top level for this group to succeed.”

For his part, Parekh insists he isn’t feeling a stitch of pressure.

Remember that he was a controversial cut a year ago, when Canada struggled to light the lamp and sputtered to a quarterfinal ouster.

Parekh is one of a hat-trick of NHL loanees on the roster for this edition, joining Calgary-raised Harrison Brunicke (Pittsburgh Penguins) and his former OHL teammate Michael Misa (San Jose Sharks).

“I don’t think there’s any pressure,” Parekh told Postmedia. “I just want to go play my game and do my thing. I know, as an organization, that Hockey Canada feels that pressure. But as players, we just want to play and do our best.

“Every year, they send a competitive team and a team that is able to win gold. I think this year we’re going to have a really good chance.”

Reschny’s role

Reschny could wind up being a Swiss Army Knife for Team Canada. (There must be a more patriotic metaphor, but we’re admittedly stumped.)

During training camp and exhibition action, the 18-year-old from Macklin, Sask., was auditioned at both centre and on the wing.

He has been in the bumper spot on the top power-play unit.

He’s also one of the penalty-kill personnel.

“I’d be shocked if we don’t see him taking big draws as this tournament goes along,” Edwards said.

Reschny’s well-roundedness was a major part of the appeal when the Flames called his name at No. 18 overall in the 2025 NHL Draft.

It’s why he is already a go-to guy for the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks — as a freshman, he is averaging 1.13 points per game and winning 55.3 per cent of his faceoffs — and why he could be an all-scenarios sort even on this stacked squad.

Reschny, the third-youngest forward on Canada’s roster, will likely start as the left-winger on a line with Cole Beaudoin and Jett Luchanko.

“The No. 1 thing with Cole is his hockey sense, and because of that, you can play him at any forward position,” Edwards said. “He’s very trustworthy. When you watch him play at North Dakota, he’s always in the right spot. That coaching staff just revels in the fact that you can trust him in any situation. And if I’m the world-junior coach, that’s a valuable trait.”

How about one more reason that Reschny could emerge as a surprise standout for Canada?

He’s already shown a knack for coming up clutch on the international stage.

At the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, he tied for his team scoring lead. He was a late arrival to the World Under-18s last spring but notched five goals in the same number of games, including an overtime winner in a quarterfinal nail-biter.

Oh yeah, we should mention that he already owns two gold medals.

“Hopefully I can add another one,” he said matter-of-factly. 

Mission McKenna?

With the Flames near the bottom of the standings, fans have fingers crossed for the first Top-3 pick in franchise history.

In that case, this is a superb scouting opportunity.

We’re not ready to bet against Gavin McKenna going first-overall, but that’s no longer considered a slam-dunk. With some underwhelmed by his stat-line as a freshman with the Penn State Nittany Lions, this star-in-the-making left-winger has been bumped from the top perch in a few rankings.

McKenna, after scorching to 129 points in what would his final campaign with the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers, has managed only four goals and 14 assists in his 16 college contests so far.

Keep in mind, though, that he just turned 18 this past weekend. He’s among the youngest players in the NCAA.

One of the main challengers to McKenna’s status as the best prospect available in 2026 is his world-junior teammate, Keaton Verhoeff, who happens to be Reschny’s roommie at North Dakota. Verhoeff may start as Canada’s spare blue-liner, so the scouts — both the employed and armchair variety — will be hoping he can eventually break into the lineup.    

With no disrespect to McKenna or Verhoeff, many have Swedish winger Ivar Stenberg at the top of their can’t-wait-to-watch list during this tournament.

With 24 points in 25 games against pros this fall, Stenberg is on pace to break Daniel Sedin’s record for the most productive season by a draft-eligible player in the SHL.

Others in the Class of 2026 to keep an eye on over the next couple of weeks include centres Viggo Bjorck (Sweden), Tomas Chrenko (Slovakia) and Oliver Suvanto (Finland), wingers Adam Nemec (Slovakia) and Adam Novotny (Czechia) and defencemen Carson Carels (Canada), Juho Piiparinen (Finland), Chase Reid (USA) and Alberts Smits (Latvia).

Looking back

The locker-room at the Saddledome is well-stocked with world junior alumni.

In fact, more than half of the dudes on the Flames’ roster, including those currently shelved by injuries, participated in this tournament as teenagers.

The full list:

Mikael Backlund, Sweden (2008, 2009)

Kevin Bahl, Canada (2020)

Jake Bean, Canada (2017, 2018)

John Beecher, USA (2020)

Matt Coronato, USA (2022)

Joel Farabee, USA (2019)

Morgan Frost, Canada (2019)

Sam Honzek, Slovakia (2022, 2023, 2024)

Jonathan Huberdeau, Canada (2012, 2013)

Nazem Kadri, Canada (2010)

Yan Kuznetsov, Russia (2021)

Martin Pospisil, Slovakia (2019)

Yegor Sharangovich, Belarus (2016, 2018)

Dustin Wolf, USA (2020, 2021)

Connor Zary, Canada (2021)

Looking ahead

Let’s enjoy this latest edition first, but the Flames should be sending several prospects to next year’s tournament.

Cullen Potter and Ethan Wyttenbach should be strong candidates for Team USA’s forward cast, Theo Stockselius will be on Sweden’s roster radar and Reschny will be a returnee for Team Canada.

wgilbertson@postmedia.com