Can Colton Parayko Build Enough Momentum to Make St. Louis Blues’ Roster?
For more casual St. Louis Blues fans who attended training camp practices this past weekend or the team’s two preseason games this week, there was a nice surprise in store. A young defenseman skated up and down the ice who was a head taller and more physically developed than roughly everyone on the ice, and he quickly made his presence felt, frequently igniting his group’s offensive attack when he was on the ice.
The mystery man was 22-year-old Colton Parayko, a 2012 third-round pick who is attending his first training camp with the Blues after spending the last three seasons at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, then making a 22-game cameo with the AHL Chicago Wolves to end last season. Parayko largely went unnoticed, both going into the draft and as a prospect after being drafted, due to his desolate location, so he may even sneak up on Blues fans and even NHL prospect hounds with his quick ascension.
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Parayko is listed at 6-foot-5 (perhaps a conservative measurement, as he appears to be at least three inches taller than Jay Bouwmeester, listed at 6-foot-4) and 214 pounds, and he’s made it clear this season that he’s not just a big body. The big blueliner’s quickness is absolutely adequate, if not superior, for the pro game, and he’s willing to throw his body into people, showcasing himself as one of the most physical checkers both at prospect camp and during training camp. As NHL.com’s Lou Korac detailed on Wednesday, Blues coach Ken Hitchcock was very impressed with the skill element of Parayko’s game on Tuesday:
"“There was a lot of speed in the lineup yesterday from Columbus. They brought a lot of quick players, didn’t bother him one bit. Really impressed. Got better and better as the game went on. Got used to the tempo. Man, he was good.“Anticipation is better than what I thought. Sometimes you get a big guy who can’t read things very quickly, but he sniffs out danger. He knows when to get in, get out, which is really good for us.”"
Even for those who witnessed the Blues’ prospect camp back in July, it’s quite clear that Parayko has progressed as a player since then. This summer, he was obviously an intriguing physical sight and backed up that size with his play. With that said, he didn’t completely stand out as head and shoulders above his peers, like forward Robby Fabbri did. Through several days of camp and a preseason game, however, Parayko looks like he could be just a small notch below guys like Alex Pietrangelo and Petteri Lindbohm in terms of raw skill, and for a player who has such limited pro experience, he has an exceptional level of visible instinct as well.
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As good as he’s looked thus far, it’s still a mystery as to how Parayko is going to fit into the Blues’ plans for 2015-16. The team already has a pretty established group of defensemen who are either locked into spots because they delivered great performances last season (Kevin Shattenkirk, Alex Pietrangelo, Petteri Lindbohm, and Robert Bortuzzo) or are players with a strong history in the NHL who have big contracts (Jay Bouwmeester and Carl Gunnarsson). Chris Butler, who performed more than capably when pressed into duty last season, is also penciled onto the roster as a dependable alternative who won’t be adversely affected by spending significant time as a healthy scratch. Unless there’s an injury in the defensive corps before camp breaks, it seems that Parayko’s only possible path to the opening night roster would be if the front office is willing to make a bold decision and move one of their established veterans.
It should be interesting to see what the Blues’ plans are for Carl Gunnarsson, who will be a free agent after 2015-16. The 28-year-old Gunnarsson never really rounded back into form last year while dealing with a hip injury and multiple concussions, and he became a regular healthy scratch for a short period down the stretch. While Hitchcock has referred to Gunnarsson as a guy who could play a top-four role, he might be a guy to try to move and create some cap flexibility (he’s making $3.2 million this year) if the Blues trust players like Petteri Lindbohm and Robert Bortuzzo to step up and can trust rookies like Parayko, Joel Edmundson, and Jordan Schmaltz to contribute on at least a part-time basis this season.
Though he’s on a one-way contract, Chris Butler could also be susceptible to a demotion since he’s making just $650,000 this year, which could create room for a guy like Parayko or Edmundson in the top six and relegate a player like Gunnarsson or Bortuzzo to the press box. This isn’t exactly a likely scenario, because the Blues would probably prefer not to have to expose a reliable veteran like Butler to waivers and pay him an NHL salary in the minors, but if they clearly feel that a guy like Parayko is one of their best defensemen, which he’s certainly appeared to be thus far, it might be an inevitability.
Ultimately, the most likely scenario is that Parayko, along with his fellow highly-regarded blueline prospects Edmundson and Schmaltz, will be sent back to AHL Chicago to begin the season. Assuming they make it through waivers and back to the minors, he’ll have to compete with NHL veterans Peter Harrold and Andre Benoit for positioning on the NHL depth chart, but it seems more likely than not that he’ll be the first man up if an injury occurs that opens up a spot on the team.
Parayko could definitely take a path similar to Lindbohm, who delivered an off-the-charts performance in training camp last year but still was sent to Chicago to begin the season. However, the rookie was recalled early in the year for spot duty and earned himself several extended stints in the lineup. Parayko’s hope will just have to be to one-up Lindbohm and impress so much that the Blues have faith in him to perform down the stretch and in the postseason. If that plan works out, it would certainly be a plus for the Blues, as a defenseman as massive and athletic as Parayko could be one of the final pieces the team needs to get over the hump in the playoffs.