Colton Parayko is four games away from a piece of St. Louis Blues history that speaks less to flash, and instead more to the quiet, unglamorous consistency that tends to get overlooked until the numbers force the issue. The towering defenseman opens the 2026-27 season with 800 career games played in a Blues sweater, sitting only three behind franchise legend Barrett Jackman's 803. Once he steps onto the ice for his fourth game of the campaign, he will stand alone in second place on the club's all-time games-played list, trailing only Bernie Federko who stands alone at the top with 927 games played with the Blues.
The Blues took the 6-foot-6 Parayko in the third round, 86th overall in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. Since the 2015-16 when he made his NHL debut, Parayko has been a pillar and anchor on the blue line. Across 11 seasons, he's accumulated 81 goals, 323 assists, and 313 points to go with a plus-61 rating, all while logging over 22 minutes per game, often against top competition. He has done this all through both the Blues' contention years and the rebuild that followed, rarely missing time and never demanding the spotlight that came with it.
During the Stanley Cup run, Parayko played a key shutdown role during the improbable season and championship in 2019 scoring two goals and 12 points over 26 games while averaging 25 minutes each night.
As the Blues open another season with a roster shuffle and change to the new core, Parayko's chase for the record offers a nice bit of stability to hang on to. The defenseman is 33 now, still under contract, and still logging the kind of minutes that suggest the Blues have no plans to slow him down. Four games into the 2026-27 season, St. Louis will turn the page on a new chapter in its history. He's already given Blues fans more than a decade of hard work, dedication, and dependable defense. Soon enough, he'll have a permanent spot one place closer near the top of the record book to go along with it.
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