Blues’ Colton Parayko out against Devils with back spasms
The St. Louis Blues will be shorthanded on the backend for Saturday’s game against the New Jersey Devils, and possibly longer, as Colton Parayko is set to miss the match due to back spasms, according to Blues’ head coach Jim Montgomery.
It doesn’t appear that Parayko’s injury was due to something that occurred during game action, as there were no reports of the injury before Montgomery announced the defenseman’s absence, and he didn’t miss any time during Thursday’s 5-1 win over the Seattle Kraken. In addition to missing Saturday’s game, Parayko is also doubtful for Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Wild.
Parayko’s injury comes just after his time in Milan, Italy playing for Canada’s men’s ice hockey team at the 2026 Winter Olympics, where Canada made it all the way to the gold-medal game before losing 2-1 in overtime to the United States. Parayko did not register a point for Canada in the six games he played.
Parayko hasn’t been overly productive for the Blues this season with just one goal and 13 assists for 14 points in 58 games, but he has been very good defensively, as he is tied for 11th in the league in 5v5 regularized adjusted plus-minus expected goals against per 60 minutes at -0.181.
With Parayko out of the lineup, the Blues will see a slight shift in the makeup of their blueline. Justin Faulk will play on the top pair with Philip Broberg, Parayko’s current defense partner, while Matthew Kessel, who’s entering the lineup in place of Parayko, will play with Faulk’s usual defense partner in Tyler Tucker.
Montgomery also mentioned that center Robert Thomas is also out for Saturday’s game, but is a possibility for Sunday. Thomas has missed the last 12 games with a leg injury.
Thomas has had a slightly down season compared to usual, as he has just 11 goals and 22 assists for 33 points in 42 games this year.
Thomas has been the subject of plenty of trade rumours, and is a possibility to be moved before the trade deadline on March 6th. Parayko has also found himself in some rumours, but doesn’t appear to be as likely of a candidate to be moved before next week as Thomas is.