Parayko a steady force for Blues despite goal drought this season

Parayko knows that, but it’s off his radar right now. What’s on his radar is doing all he can to help the Blues (11-14-7) try to turn around their season.

“The biggest thing is the St. Louis Blues,” Parayko said. “That’s who I’ve committed my whole season to and my future. That’s the goal, to help this team first and foremost.”

But the Olympics and the potential to represent Canada in Milan is helping to drive that motivation.

“The best way to look at it, at least for me, is just do your job here,” Parayko said. “If you do the best you can, play well and all that stuff and things go well then the rest will take care of itself. You approach the games and prepare the right way and get ready for the games the same way everything will fall in line and you’ll give yourself the best chance.”

Parayko doesn’t feel his game is far off from how he played last season, when the goals were coming regularly — one every four games, the best pace of his career — without having to sacrifice any of his defense, the real non-negotiables in his game.

He’s getting opportunities and generating some looks. But his shot totals are way down from last season, when he averaged two shots on goal per game. He’s averaging around 1.16 shots per game this season. Before this season, his career average was 2.08 shots per game.

“He scored a ton of goals last year just in the offensive zone collecting rebounds in the slot and scoring that way,” Blues center Robert Thomas said. “He’s a huge part of our team and getting him going offensively is going to be huge.”

It’s not for lack of effort, want or trying.

“I feel like I’ve had a lot of chances and things are right there,” Parayko said, “but that’s sometimes the way it goes.”

But, again, it doesn’t seem like numbers are going to be the reason why Parayko makes or doesn’t make the Canadian Olympic team.

Thomas knows. He’s in the same boat.

“Players have it in the back of their minds on what they need to do to give themselves the best chance to make that team,” Thomas said. “For us two it’s playing against top lines and trying to limit offense. Points and goals, that’s not really going to get us there.”

Everything else will.

“It does ease the burden,” Pronger said. “If he goes (to the Olympics), it may free him up and may allow him to just defend well and defend hard.”