MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Cam Fowler wasn’t the only one smiling after agreeing to terms on a three-year, $18.3 million contract extension that will keep the defenseman with the St. Louis Blues through the 2028-29 season.

So was his defensive partner, Colton Parayko.

And he has every reason to.

The two only played 34 games together last season, according to moneypuck.com, but the numbers spoke rather well.

A 55.5 percent expected goals percentage, 20.1 expected goals for, 2.49 goals for per 60 minutes, 1.99 goals against per 60. In the playoffs, that expected goals percentage went to 60.4 percent, 5.8 expected goals for, 3.8 goals against.

Fowler was acquired Dec. 14, 2024 from the Anaheim Ducks and didn’t immediately get paired with Parayko but it wasn’t long until they were, and once they were, there was no separating them.

“We didn’t do it right away, but after we saw Fowler play two or three games, we thought that that could be a combination because the way they complement each other, they’re both long, they’re both great skaters,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “Defending the rush part would be natural, but the one thinks a little more offensively than the other. But both can play 200 feet extremely well, and they back each other up. So it’s like if one’s going to be, which we want, we want one of our defensemen being involved in the offensive zone, the other knows how to back him up and own the middle of the ice. The two of them complement each other so well that we thought it would work. It did work really well last year.”

It typically takes some time to build chemistry, build a relationship, learn tendencies of one’s teammates. Oh, they did that on the fly but it was such a strong match that the bond was instantaneous.

“Sometimes you kind of just have to jump in and build that chemistry with one another,” Fowler said. “I think we see things in kind of a similar way in we both want to be responsible and really good for one another. We try and lift each other up and support each other, so I always know I’m going to get the best out of him and I hope he feels the same about me. I think if we can just continue to push each other and make sure that we’re good for the team, it makes our team that much better.

“It was just one of those things that anyone that knows Colton knows he’s a pretty easy guy to get along with, but playing with him has been very special for me and sometimes it just clicks right away and you don’t have to work too much on it. With ‘Beast,’ that was just the case pretty much right from the get-go.”

Parayko had such a comparable foundation of play with Jay Bouwmeester when the two helped the Blues win the Stanley Cup in 2019. Now that Fowler is in the fold for another four seasons and Parayko is signed through the 2029-30 season, it locks in a top-pairing for the Blues’ blue line for at least four more years while a reinforcement of youthful talent is brought along.

“Early on when we did start playing together, we just established how we like to play, what we like to do, our tendencies and things like that,” Parayko said. “I feel like sometimes they come naturally. We both like to get up in the play, we both like to skate, we like to use our legs and things like that. Just read off each other really well.

“I’m excited. Obviously great player, great teammate. Just as soon as he got here, can’t say enough good things about him. And just such a great player. We’re really lucky to have a player like him personally. Great teammate. I know everyone respects him. He’s been around the league for a long time. You just watch the way he skates, shoots and finds guys. Just his overall, everything about him is great. Just lucky to have him in the Bluenote for that long.”

Fowler, 33, feels like he’s found a fit in the back half of his career, as he pointed out, that he feels like he has a chance to win with, and with the Blues building a foundation back up again and finding a partner he knows is locked in with him, the fit only seemed natural.

“If you look at the last year, year and a half of my life and my career, me and my family have gone through a lot,” Fowler said of having two young boys, including one born within the past year. “Sometimes I just reflect back and I think about all those years in Anaheim, years that I’m grateful for and happy that I had the chance to play in Anaheim with a team that was nothing but great to me and treated me with respect the whole time, but now here with this team, it just kind of feels seamless in the way that the transition has been able to happen. That’s why when we had these conversations, it was just something that I really didn’t have to think too much about it. My family’s happy here, I’m happy here. All those years I’ve had in Anaheim, I think have led me to this position now where I’m with this team and that’s just the future and mindset I have moving forward.”

Fowler will be 37 when his Blues contract expires, and there are some that view the commitment too large by the Blues in regards to term and financials, but Montgomery puts in perspective of why he believes Fowler will last.

“The players that have extended their careers a long time are players that can skate, especially at defense,” he said. “You look at (Chris) Chelios, he went really long. It would be nice if we could get half of that medium at that age. I think (Scott) Niedermeyer could have just kept playing, but he said, ‘I’m a Hall of Famer, I’m going to retire.’ But that’s why. When you’re such a fluid skater, he doesn’t work for a stride. If you had to work for your strides to gain ice like I had to, you’re very jealous of those guys because they can just skate all day and the game’s easy. The skating stays. The brain gets better as you get older. It just does. You understand where to be. You don’t spend as much effort chasing to bad ice and so that’s why guys that can skate and have high-end brains, they extend their careers.

“Really happy to have (Fowler). When he’s on the ice, as a coach, you’ve got a security blanket out there. Really excited because he’s going to make us good for several years.”

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