ANAHEIM, Calif. — “What’s up? Elephant in the room, or what?”

That’s what St. Louis Blues defenseman Colton Parayko asked The Athletic when he emerged from the locker room after practice at the Honda Center Saturday afternoon.

Yes, the elephant in the room, a reference to Parayko’s decision Thursday to invoke his no-trade clause and turn down a deal that would’ve seen the end of an 11-year run in St. Louis and the start of a new one in Buffalo.

“That was a crazy day!” Parayko said. “I had over 100 text messages like that.”

To comprehend what the 6-foot-6, 228-pound Alberta native was feeling two days before the NHL trade deadline, you first need some context about his personality. He’s soft-spoken, unassuming and has a reputation that’s cleaner than the glass at Enterprise Center just before puck-drop.

Last week, however, he was the focus of the hockey world. And not by his own doing.

“It was a slow news day because nothing much had happened, so it took on a life of its own,” said Gerry Johannson, Parayko’s agent.

Parayko wasn’t the first NHL player to have two fan bases wondering if he’d waive a full no-trade clause, not even this month. The Vancouver Canucks’ Tyler Myers and Calgary Flames’ MacKenzie Weegar faced the same situation, and there wasn’t nearly as much attention.

Whether it was the initial report on X or the immediate reaction within the Blues’ organization to leaked information, this one played out differently.

A day after Parayko informed general manager Doug Armstrong of his decision to stay put, Parayko provided behind-the-scenes details of the process that took place during the frantic 24-hour period.

The missed meeting

A week before Friday’s trade deadline, The Athletic reported that Armstrong reached out via text to several Blues players who possessed some form of trade protection. He wanted them to attend a meeting where he could make them aware that they may be asked to waive their no-trade clauses.

Parayko was unable to go because he was returning from the Olympics and needed treatment for his nagging back spasms.

“I said, ‘Maybe I should reach out to Doug,’” Johannson said. “That led to about 800 conversations with Colton to see if it was OK if I called Doug. He was like, ‘Do you think you should?’ I’m like, ‘I’ve known him for 30 years, I’ll call him.’”

So Parayko’s camp was aware of the Blues’ situation, but the 32-year-old veteran wasn’t planning to be part of the purge.

“I guess the best way to put it: You don’t want to think like that,” he said.

Tuesday, the Blues boarded an early-afternoon flight to Seattle, then checked in at the Four Seasons Hotel on 99 Union Street.

Armstrong didn’t accompany the club on the first stop of its three-game road trip, instead going with his staff straight to San Jose, Calif., the second stop, to get set up for the trade deadline.

Wednesday morning, the Blues took an eight-minute bus ride from the hotel to Climate Pledge Arena for its morning skate. Parayko wasn’t playing because of his injury, but he went to the rink.

A deal with the Sabres

Johannson was at lunch when he got a call from Armstrong, alerting him to a potential trade with Buffalo involving Parayko. After they hung up, Armstrong sent a text to Parayko, asking him to call.

“He told me about the trade,” Parayko recalled. “He said, ‘This is where we’re at, and that’s kind of it.’”

Parayko had been part of trade rumors in the past, but “now it was real, it was a thing,” he said.

Parayko phoned Johannson immediately.

“Initially, it’s a little bit of shock, but he was engaged,” Johannson said. “He was like, ‘What do you think Gerry?’ I said, ‘Let me walk you through it.’”

They talked about Buffalo being “a legit team, and their D corps maybe being the best in the NHL,” Johannson said. Parayko seemed interested, but his agent told him that was his adrenaline talking.

That was the first of what Johannson estimated were 50 phone calls between the two.

“I swear to God, I talked to Colton 50 times — 50!” Johannson says.

Parayko also talked to Sabres GM Jarmo Kekäläinen, the Blues’ longtime director of amateur scouting who left the organization in 2010, two years before the defenseman was drafted.

“I talked to a few people in the organization, and I only heard good things,” Parayko said.

Then, in a blink, a social media post from TSN’s Darren Dreger with a time stamp of 3:31 p.m. CT Wednesday broke news of the trade.

It’s believed Parayko to Buffalo is going to happen. Things are being finalized. Player needs to approve, etc.

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) March 4, 2026

“That’s when my phone started blowing up,” Parayko said. “That’s my understanding, at least. I’m not really sure, to be honest, because I was trying to make my own phone calls and figure out my own personal stuff.”

Johannson said he doesn’t follow social media, but a friend showed him Dreger’s report.

“That was sort of the match on the gasoline,” Johannson said. “It said the trade was pending (player approval), so actually Darren was accurate. The guy’s got a job to do, right? I think Colton knows, it’s just the reality of the business.”

“It’s an exciting time for people in the media, people putting things out there, trying to get ahead of things and stuff like that,” Parayko said. “But for me personally, I’m putting it in the rearview mirror.”

In the moment, though, Parayko was dealing with public pressure.

“With the person that he is, it was hard on him,” said Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist, Parayko’s best friend on the team. “Seeing him, you knew how much he was hurting.”

There was added pressure, too, because Buffalo needed an answer soon. The deadline was just two days away, and if Parayko wasn’t coming, the Sabres would need to pivot.

Johansson says they were “very professional,” but Parayko joked that he doesn’t cope well in those circumstances.

“I can barely decide if I want a cappuccino or latte when I go to Starbucks — it takes me five minutes,” he said, laughing. “It takes me time to make decisions, especially a decision of that magnitude.”

Around 6 p.m. Wednesday in Seattle, Parayko jumped on the Blues’ bus at the hotel and went to the team’s game against the Kraken. He returned several hours later, but it wasn’t an easy night of sleep.

“You’re thinking about lots of things, from hockey to personal, everything,” Parayko said. “I still have (four more seasons) on my contract. You kind of just go back and forth.”

He closed his eyes believing he’d stay in St. Louis, but wanted to make sure he didn’t have a sudden change of heart. And he didn’t.

Thanks, but no thanks

Parayko awoke Thursday morning and thought, “I love wearing the Blue Note. This is my 11th season here, and it’s a special thing. Yeah, I’m just happy to be a Blue.”

With more time to contemplate the decision, it might’ve been different. But being somewhat blindsided by the situation, he couldn’t suddenly decide on Buffalo.

“It was a lot for him to leave St. Louis,” Johansson said.

Now Parayko had to notify everyone of his decision. The way it typically works is the agent notifies the team, so Johansson called Armstrong.

“He was like, ‘OK, no problem,’” Johansson said.

Then Armstrong relayed the decision to Kekäläinen, which wasn’t the only call Kekäläinen received.

“I told Colt, ‘Give Jarmo a call to say thanks for everything,’ and he says, ‘Great idea!’” Johannson recalled. “But it was funny: Colt hangs up and Jarmo calls me and says, ‘Gerry, I think there’s still a chance.’ I said, ‘That’s him just being nice.’ He tried his hardest to say ‘no’ in such a polite way that I think they thought maybe it was still on.”

Then, with the hockey world watching, a social media post by TSN’s Elliotte Friedman with a time stamp of 11:47 a.m. CT Thursday morning provided the update.

Officially, Colton Parayko has declined to waive his no-trade clause to Buffalo — as is his contractual right.

We will see where we go from here

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 5, 2026

There was a sense of relief for Parayko.

“It felt like everyone was focused on it,” he said. “But after you think about, the world is still moving on. It’s just unfortunate that that’s what happened with my situation.”

Another unfortunate aspect was that the city of Buffalo took a lot of criticism, with people assuming that Parayko didn’t want to go there. He said it was never about that.

“No, none, not at all,” he said. “They have a great team and they’re one of the hottest teams in the league right now. Guys love playing there, and they have a good alumni group. It actually kind of sounds a little bit like St. Louis with our alumni group.

“So that’s definitely not the case at all, and it sucks that it gets portrayed that way because it got out. But it has nothing to do with the organization at all. It’s just at this specific time, when I had to make a decision, I love being a Blue, so that’s it.”

After hearing the news early Thursday, Sundqvist went to Parayko’s room to hug him.

“He wants to be here, and he earned his right with that contract to say no,” Sundqvist said. “We all love him, and we’re super happy with his decision.”

“The guys have been great,” Parayko said. “I’ve gotten to play with them for a long time and gotten to know them. I definitely felt the love.”

But what about the Blues’ love?

If the club has set its mind on trading Parayko, isn’t it inevitable that it will come back to him at some point and ask him to waive his no-trade clause for another city?

“For me, my main focus is just right now,” he said. “My priority is to show up to the rink these last 20 games this year. I guess (the youth movement) is something everyone will have to discuss, but I have no problem. We’ll figure it out.”