This Blues defenseman missed an exclusive list of top defensemen, and deservingly so

The other day, the NHL Network released their list of who they believe are the Top 20 defensemen in the NHL.

The usual suspects in Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes are there at the top, as well as veterans like Victor Hedman and Roman Josi rounding out the Top 10. Some, however, are asking: where is St. Louis Blues defenseman Colton Parayko?

Parayko isn't on the list, nor does he deserve to be.

Sometimes, it's important to take off the Blue-tinted fan glasses and face reality. Parayko's 16 goals and 36 points in the 2024-25 season were nice, sure, but there is no world in which he will be able to replicate his 12.8 shooting percentage. For reference, his career average is 5.1 percent, and his highest mark until last season was 6.5 percent in 2023-24. A 10-goal season--something Parayko has done three times previously--is far more within expectations.

Then, there's the "defense" part of "defenseman." Parayko's underlying statistics are abysmal: per Natural Stat Trick, Parayko hasn't posted a Corsi-for percentage over 50 since the 2018-19 season when the Blues won the Stanley Cup, nor has he had an expected-Goals for percentage north of 50 since that same season. Playdriving results that are poor might not even qualify for Top 50 consideration, let alone Top 20.

For those early years of his career, however, Parayko looked like he was on track to becoming a quality first-pair defenseman. If we're talking about the defenseman he was at age 25, then Parayko should absolutely be in consideration for the Top 20. Since the pandemic, however, his play has fallen off a cliff, to the point that he barely grades out as a passable second-pair defenseman. At 32 years old, it's unlikely Parayko ever gets back to playing the way he did last decade--good thing the Blues have him under contract through 2030 with a cap hit of $6.5-million AAV.