THW - Then and Now: Al MacInnis & Colton Parayko

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From: The Hockey Writers > NHL Teams > Central > St. Louis Blues
Then and Now: MacInnis and Parayko
September 30th, 2016
BY Melanie Rau

It is 1983, defenseman Al MacInnis’ official rookie season with the Calgary Flames. Before this, he had only played 16 games with the Flames over the span of two seasons. He was drafted 15th overall by the Flames in 1981. MacInnis is ready to prove that he deserves a full-time spot in the NHL.

He played for the Kitchener Rangers in the OHL and won the Memorial Cup two seasons in a row. He earned a First Team All-Star spot for two seasons straight averaging 66 points over his two and a half seasons there. Being a defenseman, this earned him the second best defensive prospect in the draft and the OHL’s top defenseman trophy. Most impressively, he tied the OHL record for most goals in one season by a defenseman, tying none other than the great Bobby Orr.

By the end of his rookie season in the NHL, MacInnis had 49 points and an even plus-minus rating in 67 games. Not many forwards these days can put up those numbers, so a defenseman with that many points made him stand out even more. ...


Colton Parayko’s Beginning

Jump to 2015 in St. Louis. Cue Colton Parayko. It is his rookie season with the St. Louis Blues, and like MacInnis was at this time, he is itching to earn a spot in the NHL. He was drafted by the Blues in the third round in 2012. ...

In his initial NHL season with the Blues, Parayko had 40 points in 99 games played, including the playoffs. He had a plus-minus of plus-28. The plus-minus alone compares to MacInnis. The fact that his plus-minus is great, and he has a great deal of points for a defenseman shows that he is a promising two-way defenseman. He can block shots and help score goals and that is very rare these days in the NHL. You could see this in MacInnis as well. ...


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