Zayne Parekh

Last Season

Four goals and five assists in 37 games, minus-nine, at 17:09 a night. His first NHL season, at 20.

The Finesse Game

The reason he was the ninth pick. The skating is excellent — he escapes pressure by turning through it, and the edges let him walk a blue line and change the shooting angle without giving up the puck.

The production has not followed yet. Seventy-five unblocked attempts from a median of 45 feet, four goals, and nine per cent from inside twenty. He gets it through, which is more than most rookie defencemen manage.

Four goals in his last ten games from six points, so it is starting to arrive.

The Physical Game

Six foot even and 179 pounds, and it is the whole argument about him. He cannot clear a crease, cannot hold a man out of the slot, and gets moved off pucks by wingers. Eight penalty minutes in 37 games.

This is the familiar bargain with a defenceman built like this: he has to end plays before contact becomes relevant, and when he cannot, there is nothing behind it.

The Intangibles

The two halves of his page disagree loudly and both are worth having. He was on for 49.4 per cent of the shot attempts — 50th percentile, dead average, and remarkable for a 20-year-old defenceman on a poor team. He was also on for 43.2 per cent of the expected goals, eighth percentile.

Read together, that says he keeps the puck moving and the chances he gives up are far more dangerous than the ones he helps create. Which is exactly what you would expect from a gifted, slight, teenage defenceman learning where to stand.

Five hundred and twenty-five minutes is not a verdict. He is the one to follow here.