He rejected Buffalo… and the Canadiens are the real winners
![Feb 15, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; [Imagn Images direct customers only] Team Canada defenseman Colton Parayko (55) plays the puck and Team United States forward Brock Nelson (29) defends in the third period during a 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey game at the Bell Centre.](https://i.marqueur.com/habsetlnh/i/photo/665398.webp "Feb 15, 2025; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; [Imagn Images direct customers only] Team Canada defenseman Colton Parayko (55) plays the puck and Team United States forward Brock Nelson (29) defends in the third period during a 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey game at the Bell Centre.")
Colton Parayko said no to Buffalo at the deadline. After watching the Sabres melt down against the Canadiens, that decision looks like the smartest call of his career.
The reminder came Sunday afternoon, when reporter William Leblanc tossed out the line everyone in St. Louis was already thinking. Now you understand why Parayko didn't want to go.
Buffalo is down 2-1 to Montreal in the second round. The Sabres just got run out of the Bell Centre 6-2. They took stupid penalties, lost their composure, and bled goals.
Zach Benson took 12 minutes in penalties. Logan Stanley added another 12. That's a top-six winger and a bottom-pair defenseman combining for 24 minutes in the box during an elimination-leverage game.
The veteran defenseman waved off a move to that locker room. His contract carries a full no-trade clause at $6.5 million through several more years, so the choice was entirely his.
His regular season in St. Louis ended quietly. 77 games, 4 goals, 14 assists, a -6 rating, and zero playoff hockey. The Blues finished 23rd overall and missed the dance entirely.
Lindy Ruff's locker room is unraveling in real time
So you have to ask. Would a stay-at-home defender in his thirties really sign up to inherit that chaos for a deep run that may never come?
Rasmus Dahlin scored on the power play and finished -2. Tage Thompson scored, also -2. The two faces of the franchise combined for a minus-4 night and watched their teammates take undisciplined minors.
Alex Lyon got peppered with 36 shots. Lane Hutson racked up 2 assists and a +2 from the back end, looking every bit the Norris candidate Montreal hopes he becomes.
Jakub Dobes stopped 26 of 28 the other way. Buffalo's offense in this series, outside of one home win, has been pedestrian against a defense quarterbacked by 22-year-old kids.
The cap math made the refusal look cold at the time. Doug Armstrong was reportedly trying to retool, and a swap to a contender felt logical for everyone but the player.
Now Buffalo's window, the one fans have been promised for nearly fifteen years, is being slammed shut by Martin St-Louis and a roster nobody picked. The decision to stay put looks less like loyalty and more like foresight.
Game 4 is in Montreal. If the Habs win, Lindy Ruff goes back home facing elimination with a fan base that has watched this exact movie before.
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LIVE
MAY 11, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Nazem Kadri | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Danila Yurov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brock Faber | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Martin Necas | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Vladimir Tarasenko | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Ahcan | - | - | - | |
| Mackenzie Blackwood | - | - | - | |
| Zach Bogosian | - | - | - | |
| Matthew Boldy | - | - | - | |
| Brent Burns | - | - | - | |
| Ross Colton | - | - | - | |
| Jack Drury | - | - | - | |
| Marcus Foligno | - | - | - | |
| Nick Foligno | - | - | - | |
| Ryan Hartman | - | - | - | |
| Quinn Hughes | - | - | - | |
| Daemon Hunt | - | - | - | |
| Marcus Johansson | - | - | - | |
| Kirill Kaprizov | - | - | - | |
| Parker Kelly | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||