St. Louis Blues defenseman Colton Parayko has invoked his no-movement clause to prevent a trade to the Buffalo Sabres, a league source confirmed to ESPN.
The Sabres had a trade agreement in place with the Blues to acquire Paryko but only if the defenseman waived his no-movement clause, sources had told ESPN on Wednesday.
Parayko, 32, is in the fourth year of an eight-year, $32 million contract. He recently competed for Team Canada at the Olympics and was a key member of St. Louis’ 2019 Stanley Cup-winning team.
The Sabres are looking to snap the longest playoff drought in NHL history at 14 years and are in good position to do so as they enter NHL trade deadline week in second place in the crowded Atlantic Division. Buffalo made a general manager change in December, promoting longtime executive Jarmo Kekalainen, and since then has had the NHL’s best record at 23-5-2. Kekalainen has been in conversations with several teams to acquire a right-shot defenseman, which is one of the most coveted positions by teams at this year’s deadline.
Parayko, at 6-foot-6, would have brought ample playoff experience as well as a physical presence to the Sabres’ blue line.
The Blues will likely miss the playoffs, which has GM Doug Armstrong telling other teams he’s open for business. Armstrong, who was also the GM of Canada’s Olympic teams, has engaged in discussions about several veteran players, including goalie Jordan Binnington, forwards Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, Brayden Schenn and defenseman Justin Faulk. According to sources, the Blues and Sabres had discussed a deal for Thomas earlier in the week, but that fell through.
ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski and Emily Kaplan contributed to this report.
