Norris Trophy: Colton Parayko
When you look at simple point production, 2018-19 was a step backward for Colton Parayko. He had scored 30-plus points in each of his first three seasons, but fell short in his fourth with only 28 points.
On the plus side, Parayko did hit double digits in goals for the first time in his career. Parayko could not get past 10 goals, but 10 is a good stepping stone for a guy that is still feeling his way around the league despite playing a prominent role on the eventual champions.
What was more impressive for Parayko was his ascension to being one of the best defensive defensemen on this team. That was certainly not true for the entire season, but it was true for the bulk of the season.
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Unlike guys who actually get nominated for the Norris Trophy, Parayko’s performance is more dependent on who his linemate is than some of those others. Most of them are good defensemen one way or the other.
Parayko is more affected by who he is paired with, but that started to change as the season wore on. He is still a very young defender at 26, but he is starting to come into his own rapidly.
We saw toward the end of the season and during the playoffs Parayko put his stamp on this team. Perhaps his offense suffered just a tad, but when you can routinely depend on a guy to help contain some of the fastest and most skilled forwards in the league, you will take that tradeoff every time.
Parayko had 157 blocks in the regular season and 42 in the playoffs. He added 127 hits and 37 in the playoffs.
He also increased his ice time from 23:47 to 25:07. That might not sound like much, but when each shift is generally 20-30 seconds, that is an extra two or three shifts per night during some of the most pressure packed moments imaginable.
Combined with Bouwmeester, he was almost always playing against the opponent’s best. More nights than not, especially in the final, it was other lines that were beating the Blues if anyone. Those top players went silent against Parayko and Bouwmeester.
Parayko also picked up his offensive game. He had 127 playoffs shots in 26 games compared to 176 in the regular season. He also had one of the most memorable moments we might ever see by knocking Ben Bishop down with a slap shot.
Parayko has plenty of room to grow, but out of the guys guarding the blue line, he was the best.