St. Louis Blues Fans: Stop Trying To Trade Colton Parayko

When the St. Louis Blues drafted Colton Parayko in 2012, nobody knew what to expect. He was a big body, but third-round draft picks are anyone's guess.

When he gave Ken Hitchcock and Doug Armstrong no choice but to keep him on the roster in 2015-16, fans immediately started envisioning a future number one defenseman on the right side. It's been an up and down relationship since then.

As Bleedin' Blue's David Crum pointed out, Parayko may actually be undervalued. Then again, when a new player gets compared to names like Al MacInnis or Chris Pronger, it's always going to be difficult to live up to those expectations.

What 2023-24 proved is that Parayko can still be that top-pair defender. The Blues still likely need to find him a better linemate, but his rebound season showed that the talent is indeed in him.

The offense returned, as Parayko regained his scoring form, notching 10 goals. The assists weren't quite there, but that's as much due to the Blues having zero net-front traffic for 60% of the season as anything.

Parayko's defense regained form, or improved, too. He had his fourth highest total for hits in a season and he set new career highs for blocked shots and takeaways.

So, why are fans (and some media) still trying to trade him away? The honest answer is because they don't know what they're talking about.

Chris Kerber said it best prior to the 2023 trade deadline when a large, vocal majority of fans were likely on board with dealing away Parayko. If you trade a player with his size and his intangibles, you're immediately looking for that kind of player to fill the void.

Parayko is not Pronger, but Pronger is a good example because the Blues have been looking for someone like that ever since they had to trade the Hall of Famer. It's just too difficult to find a player with that size that can still move.

Even for the fans that want the Blues to go full rebuild, what does trading Parayko gain you? No matter what your excitement level is for any of the Swedish defenders in the system, none of them currently project to be the next Parayko or better. Even if you got a slew of draft picks, you're rolling loaded dice thinking you might find your next top-pair defender that will be NHL ready within a couple seasons. Defensemen are like goalies. They take longer to develop, so that's a much longer project.

Last, but not least, the truth is fans just don't really know what makes a good defender most times. I include myself in that at times.

The hot name the last few offseasons was Jakob Chychrun. His career best is 18 goals and 41 points, which is eight goals and six points better than Parayko's best. Is that really worth the extra $2-3 million Chychrun might command when his team-friendly deal runs out in 2025?

Chychrun is not as physical and Blues fans already complain about a lack of physicality from Parayko. He doesn't block as many shots, cause as many takeaways and, at 6'2, he's actually smaller.

The St. Louis Blues should not trade Colton Parayko

Trading Parayko doesn't solve any problems. If anything it causes more. The Blues are already small with guys like Torey Krug and Scott Perunovich regularly taking up minutes. Justin Faulk does his best, but at 6' tall, he can only do so much too. It's no longer the addition by subtraction we thought it might be when so many were on board with trading Parayko when he was injured.

Some might wonder where this idea even comes from. I didn't pull it from the ether. Even now, I regularly see social media posts from fans wondering what the Blues could get. Even rumor mills continue to discuss the idea, with all the teams being mentioned not having anything of interest in return.

If the Blues managed to add to their defensive corps, that's fantastic. Trading your top guy, who at worst is a top-tier second-pair defender, is just ridiculous.

You can't just replace that with anyone. The Blues already proved that when Krug was never given a real chance to succeed by having to live up to replacing Alex Pietrangelo.

Stop thinking Parayko is replacable and stop thinking anyone named Tkachuk is worth trading away any more defensive help. The Blues need to start slowly adding to what they have, not just trying to swap bodies, especially a 6'6 defender who can skate and has shown he can even keep up with the likes of Connor McDavid when fully healthy.