The Calgary Flames had two draft picks in the first round tonight (June 28) during the 2024 NHL Draft held in Las Vegas at the Sphere.

The first of the two picks came at the ninth overall pick, and the Flames went with defencemen Zayne Parekh who is coming off a monster season with the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Parekh played in 66 regular season games this year and produced 96 points with 33 coming from goals.

Not only would these numbers be impressive for a forward,  but coming from a defencemen is extra special.

The Spirit and Parekh went on to win the Memorial Cup this year, beating the stacked squad of the London Knights in the finals 4-3.

Parekh's brother Isa who plays for the Nanaimo Clippers of the BCHL was invited to the Flames development camp just hours before they selected Zayne.

Calgary also had the 28th overall pick which was acquired in the Elias Lindholm trade to the Vancouver Canucks. With the pick, they selected Matvei Gridin, a Russian-born right winger.

Gridin played the last two years for the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the United States Hockey League (USHL), producing 83 points in 60 games last season. 38 of his points were from goals.

Many Flames fans hoped Calgary would get the opportunity to select Jarome Iginla's son Tij. However, the son of the Flames legend was selected by Utah who had the sixth overall pick.