The St. Louis Blues have a solid defensive core, and they might have added the right pieces to the puzzle this season. Something is brewing with this team, and it will come with time, whether now or in the future.
With the acquisition of Cam Fowler, the defensive unit has shown significant improvement. Things have buttoned up, and that has helped both of the goaltenders, Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer. And, seemingly, Colton Parayko has also stepped up hugely over the past couple of weeks.
But which of the two has been better and more impactful this season? There are two different sample sizes here since Fowler came over from Anaheim just 15 games ago.
Fowler Versus Parayko
Both of these d-men have been fantastic this season and are undoubtedly the top defensemen on this team. It is a pretty wide margin between them and Ryan Suter and Justin Faulk, who would be the next best blueliners.
Fowler, in 15 games with the Blues, has been electric. He fit himself right into the lineup and made an impact right away. He has four goals and seven assists for 11 points so far, and he also had four more assists when he was with Anaheim. He also celebrated a momentous milestone at the Winter Classic, appearing in 1000 games in the NHL.
Parayko, who has spent his whole career with the Blues, continues to prove he is a top d-man. He was selected to represent Team Canada in the 4 Nations Face-off next month, alongside Binnington, as the only two Blues players in the tournament. This season, he has scored nine goals and added 16 assists for 25 points in 45 games.
Who is better?
For competition's sake, if you were to decide which one means more to the Blues, who would you choose? If it were up to me, it would be Fowler, by a very narrow margin. We have seen Fowler move up and down the pairings, and have quality time on the powerplay.
Fowler was thrown onto a new organization after 15 years of being in one place and fit in perfectly. Outside of hiring new coach Jim Montgomery, Fowler will go down as the best addition of the season.
Parayko has been very good this season, potentially going toward a career year. But Fowler has been a difference-maker, through and through.
Who would you pick as the better defenseman?