ST. LOUIS — Jon Cooper is undoubtedly an admirer of St. Louis Blues defenseman Colton Parayko.
The Tampa Bay Lightning coach, who will also be the coach of Canada at the 4 Nations Face-off in February, wasn’t going to endorse that the top Blues d-man should be considered for selection for the squad because, “there’s a lot of people making decisions like this, so it’s not really my place right now to talk about other guys.”
But Cooper knows Parayko from having coached him at the World Championship in prior years, and judging by his tone when asked about the player, the Lightning coach doesn’t sound like someone who would exclude Parayko from a list that will undoubtedly be a daunting task to make.
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“I’ve coached him. I know what he is,” Cooper said on Tuesday prior to the Lightning facing the Blues. “I’ve had him at World Championships, he’s a phenomenal guy. He’s got a bomb for a shot, he’s big, he’s strong, he can break a puck out, he does a lot of things that puts him in the upper echelon of defensemen in this league. And he’s a high character guy. And a Stanley Cup champion. He checks a lot of boxes.”
Among the names Parayko is up against: Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche is a shoe-in. There’s also Makar’s teammate, Devon Toews, Evan Bouchard of the Edmonton Oilers, Josh Morrissey of the Winnipeg Jets, Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore of the Vegas Golden Knights, Noah Dobson of the New York Islanders, Morgan Rielly of the Toronto Maple Leafs, MacKenzie Weegar of the Calgary Flames, Dougie Hamilton of the New Jersey Devils, Owen Power of the Buffalo Sabres, and perhaps Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings, who currently is sidelined with a broken ankle.
This maybe Canada’s toughest position to select from, and understandably so. But Parayko should at the very least be under consideration.
Parayko has eight points (three goals, five assists) in the first 12 games for the Blues this season.
