BIOGRAPHY
Colton Parayko was born May 12, 1993, in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada. He is a defenseman in the NHL.
At the completion of his junior season with the Nanooks, Parayko ended his collegiate career by signing a two-year, entry-level contract with the St. Louis Blues. He was subsequently reassigned to Blues' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, to finish the 2014–15 season on March 12, 2015. He made his AHL debut a few days later on March 15 and recorded a total of three goals and two assists over his first 11 professional games. Parayko ended the season with one more goal for a total of 7 points over 17 games.
Upon concluding his AHL stint, Parayko stayed in the St. Louis area during the offseason to get ready for the Blues' 2015 training camp. As a result of his training and play, Parayko impressed at the Blues' training camp and made their opening night roster for the 2015–16 season. He earned praise from head coach Ken Hitchcock, who said "he's got poise with the puck and for a big man, he's got foot speed...He has great composure and he's getting better every day." In his third career NHL game on October 14, 2015, he recorded his first career NHL goals, including the game winner, in a 4–3 victory over the Calgary Flames. This resulted in him becoming the first Blues rookie defenseman to record a multi-goal performance since 2000–01. From there, Parayko continued to dominate on the ice and recorded five goals in his first 14 games, while continuing to work alongside the coaching staff. After games, he would review every video of his shift to critique and improve on his skating.
Although Parayko spent the entirety of the season with the Blues, minor injuries would keep him out of the lineup for a few days. His first lower body injury came on November 16 during a game against the Winnipeg Jets, which kept him out for one game. His second injury occurred during a game against the New York Islanders on December 5. Parayko fell awkwardly on his right leg and was assisted to the Blues' dressing room, only to return three minutes later. He finished the game with 16:45 minutes of ice time and was not made available for comment afterwards. Parayko appeared in 79 regular season games for the Blues, ranking second amongst rookie defensemen in goals, assists, and points. He also led all rookies with a plus-28 rating, which ranked fifth overall in the League and set a franchise rookie record. As a result of his dominating season, Parayko was selected for the NHL All-Rookie Team and ranked eighth in Calder Memorial Trophy voting as rookie of the year. The Blues qualified for the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs where they faced off against the Chicago Blackhawks in the First Round, the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Second Round, and the San Jose Sharks in the Semifinals. During the first round, Parayko led the Blues over the Blackhawks by becoming the first defenseman in franchise history to score in a Game 7. After beating the Stars in seven games, the Blues fell to the Sharks in six games with a 4–2 series finale.
During the offseason, Parayko competed in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks with a degree in Business Administration on August 12, 2016. When speaking about earning his degree, Parayko said, "Hockey can only last so long. I'm going to have to work after hockey... Having a degree in my back pocket is obviously a bonus." As Team North America failed to medal, he returned to the Blues for their 2016 training camp and was again named to their opening night roster. Picking up on the success of his previous season, Parayko tied the NHL's longest active point streak with five games and ranked fourth among all defensemen in assists by December. He ended the season with a career-high 35 points over 81 games and re-signed a five-year, $27.5 million contract worth $5.5 million annually to stay with the Blues.
Entering his third season with the Blues, expectations were high on Parayko to improve on his previous season. He began the 2017–18 season on pace to produce more goals, points, power-play points and play more minutes than the previous season. After captain Alex Pietrangelo suffered a foot injury during a game against the Detroit Red Wings, Parayko was given an A on his jersey to symbolize his temporary appointment to alternate captain. As more injuries fell on the Blues during the second half of the season, Parayko played on the second defensive pairing with newcomer Vince Dunn for 18 games. After losing their top goal-scorer Vladimir Tarasenko during a game against the Colorado Avalanche, they were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. He ended the season with 35 points in 82 games and 13 penalty minutes.
Parayko began the 2018–19 season on a pairing with Jay Bouwmeester to lead the Blues' shutdown line, but would also play with Marco Scandella once he was acquired from the Montreal Canadiens. While with Bouwmeester, Parayko was 37th in the league for time on ice at 22 minutes 47 seconds, but his time jumped to 25:07 in the postseason. Together, they were often referred to as a "car wash on ice" as they were "tidy car washers against the opponents' top horses." After Pietrangelo suffered a hand injury on November 30, 2018, Parayko was given the responsibility by the coaching staff to replace him on the top defensive pairing. As the team continued to drop in the standings and reach 28th-place, Parayko was often considered prime trade bait as the trade deadline neared. He remained untraded after the deadline and helped lead the Blues to the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals against the Boston Bruins by recording two goals and 10 assists in 26 games during the postseason. With his assistance, the team won the 2019 Stanley Cup for the first time in their 52-year franchise history.
Following their championship year, Parayko returned to the Blues for the 2019–20 season. On January 14, 2020, Parayko was placed on long-term injured reserve after suffering an upper-body injury a few days earlier. At the time of his injury, Parayko had recorded 13 points and eight penalty minutes over 42 games. He was activated off injured reserve on January 27, 2020, after missing seven games. Upon returning to the lineup, Parayko began to be paired with Scandella on a more regular basis and they recorded six points over their first three games together. By the time the league suspended play due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Parayko recorded 28 points in 64 games. When the Blues returned to play in July, Parayko missed the first day of training camp and was presumed to have contracted COVID-19. The team ended up with the 4th seed in the West after going winless in the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers, they lost to the Vancouver Canucks during Round 1
Parayko suffered another upper-body injury after playing the first 15 games of the season and recording one goal and seven assists. The injury occurred on February 15 against the Arizona Coyotes. After missing 21 games, he returned to the Blues lineup on April 5 for a game against the Vegas Golden Knights. As a result of his injury-riddled season, Parayko tallied two goals and 10 assists through 32 regular season games. On September 1, 2021, Parayko signed an eight-year, $52 million contract extension with the Blues.
