Parayko to Play 500th NHL Game Tonight

When the St. Louis Blues take the ice in just a little over an hour to face the Seattle Kraken, it will be a special game for Blues defenseman, and my favorite player, Colton Parayko as it will mark his 500th game in the National Hockey League. 

Parayko will become the seventh defenseman and the 21st player overall in franchise history to hit the 500-game milestone. 

Over his eight seasons with the Blues, Parayko has only missed 39 games meaning that he has laced up the skates for 92.5% of the Blues’ games since he made his NHL debut in October 2015 including an “iron man” or consecutive games played streak of over 100 games between 2016 and 2019.

Parayko could also reach some more special milestones later on in his career. If he continues on his current 92.5% career attendance pace, Parayko will have 1,105 NHL games by the time his current eight-year contract ends in 2030 when he is 37 years old, or, in what is a highly unlikely scenario considering the physical nature of hockey, if he plays in every game for the rest of his career he will have played in 1,154 games by what will likely be the end of his career considering his age. 

In the second scenario, Parayko would pass Barret Jackman, (803 games played) for most games played by a Blues defenseman in the fourth year of his contract and Bernie Federko, (927 games played) for most games played as a Blue in franchise history during the sixth year of his current deal. He could also still reach those milestones at his current pace, it would just take a little longer. 

Parayko will also reach another career milestone in the 2023-24 season when he reaches third on the list for most games played by a defenseman. 

Going into tonight’s milestone game, Parayko has 47 goals and 159 assists for a total of 206 points in 499 games played. 

Some of Parayko’s other career achievements include: 

• October 14, 2015: Scored first NHL goal. 
• June 12, 2019: Won Stanley Cup.  
• December 23, 2020: Named as one of the Blues assistant captains. 

It has been a long road for the 29-year-old from St. Albert, Alberta to get to those 500 games. A relative unknown going into the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, the St. Louis Blues selected Parayko in the third round (86th overall) after he went undrafted the year prior and he would spend the next three years at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks before signing his entry-level contract on March 10, 2015. 

Five days later on March 15, Parayko made his professional debut with the Blues American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate at the time, the Chicago Wolves and would play 17 games with the Wolves before finally making his NHL debut in the 2015-16 season. 

And now 500 games later, Parayko is a big part of the Blues veteran leadership core along with a fan favorite. 

In closing, I would like to say Congratulations on 500 games Colton and here’s to 500 more!