When an NHL veteran signs a new contract, it’s tradition for them to treat their teammates to a celebratory meal.
Are the rules the same for guys who just signed an entry-level contract? There’s no way that Zayne Parekh, Etienne Morin and Matvei Gridin are going to be expected to buy all 37 prospects at Calgary Flames summer development camp a meal, right?
The three did sign their first professional contracts on Friday morning and amid all the excitement, were pretty sure they weren’t on the hook for any big bills.
“I don’t know, I guess I’ll figure it out as I go,” said Parekh, who the Flames selected No. 9 overall in last week’s NHL draft. “The boys are telling me that stampede’s on me and I’ve gotta pay for everything.”
Fortunately, the Flames do cover their prospects’ meals while they’re in town for development camp, so there shouldn’t be any disagreements about dinner tabs.
But Friday was a big, bucket-list type of day for all three of the Flames highly prized prospects.
You get to sign your first professional contract only once, after all.
“I’ve been dreaming about this ever since I touched the ice as a kid,” said Morin, whom the Flames selected with the No. 48 pick in the 2023 NHL draft. “It’s a dream coming true. Every kid that touches the ice, that’s what you want. You want to sign your first pro contract and it kind of leads you on a new path. It’s a dream coming true but it’s a new dream coming in. Now you want to reach and touch the NHL.”
All three of the young prospects who signed on Friday are big parts of the Flames’ future plans, so it was a no-brainer to get them committed. Each deal is for three years, with Parekh and Gridin earning a cap hit of $975,000 annually over that stretch and Morin getting $903,400.
“I just think it shows that we have faith in all three guys and we just said ‘Why wait?’,” said Flames GM Craig Conroy. “Let’s get them done, let’s get them in the fold and show how much faith we have in them. To be able to go and do that today was a good feeling.”
For Parekh and Gridin, signing new deals capped off a whirlwind week that included getting drafted, coming to Calgary for their first development camp and now putting pen to paper.
Both guys admitted they’ll take a little time to decompress when it’s over.
“It’s been my dream since I was two years old,” said Gridin, whom the Flames took at No. 28 overall in last week’s draft. “You dream of winning the Stanley Cup, but it starts with this.”
For Morin, it’s the next step for a player who is very much in the Flames’ long-term plans despite maybe flying a little under-the-radar when compared to the first-round draft picks. The 19-year-old will likely be with the Calgary Wranglers in the AHL next season, though.
Getting to sign his contract next to Parekh and Gridin on Friday morning only made the whole thing more special.
“A lot of good players like them, when they get drafted they see them as competition, but I see them as my future teammates,” Morin said.
A LITTLE CLARITY
Gridin isn’t sure where he’ll be playing next year, but it won’t be at the University of Michigan.
He was committed to going the NCAA route but has recently changed his mind and was the first overall pick in the CHL import draft by the Val-D’Or Foreurs.
It’s not entirely clear if that’s where he’ll be playing, but he did want to clear one thing up. There have been rumours that his grades weren’t good enough to attend Michigan, and that’s simply not true.
“I just want to say I’m not going to the University of Michigan but it’s not because my grades are bad,” Gridin said. “That’s not true. I signed a contract and if I sign a contract I can’t play in the NCAA, obviously.”