Whenever the 2021 NHL regular season begins (tentatively scheduled to be sometime around January 1), it will be so strange to see Torey Krug in a Blues jersey. NHL free agency opened this afternoon and the former Bruin scored by far the most lucrative deal of the day: seven years and a whopping $45.5 million dollars from St. Louis-the team that memorably had beaten Boston in the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals in seven games culminating in that brutal Game 7 at TD Garden. Double ouch. As much as it sucks to see Krug leave the Bruins, I doubt there will be many fans that will blame him for getting out of town especially since it felt like a foregone conclusion. He goes from one of the best teams in the league to another top contender and got paid handsomely in the process, what's so wrong with that?
Torey grew up in Michigan and went to Michigan State but he became an honorary Bostonian the last few years as he morphed from an undrafted free agent into one of the top offensive defenseman in the league. Apparently, B's GM Don Sweeney did not make a final offer after Krug rejected their joke one last year so what else could Torey do for himself, his wife and his young daughter? I'm just happy that he didn't return home to play for the dreadful Red Wings who are years away from being relevant again. Krug is listed at 5-foot-9 but he's probably an inch or two shorter than that. Along with becoming a much more dependable defenseman in his own zone, Krug worked diligently over the years to sculpt his body into getting as strong as it could be. He's been short his entire life but he hasn't let that define him; rather, his hard work and effort helped transform his game into a skilled skater, passer and shooter. He's ultra-competitive too and winning obviously is very important to him as well.
His career arc has been especially unique since he only had played in three NHL regular season games (two in 2012 and one the following year) before he quickly became a household name as the Bruins reached the 2013 Stanley Cup Final vs. Chicago. In 75 career playoff games with Boston, he piled up 11 goals and 41 assists which included six power-play goals and 31 power-play assists. In many ways, he was a new wave type of defenseman: the power play/offensive specialist. Through seven full seasons with the Black and Gold, he never had less than 39 points and if it wasn't for the pandemic, he would have reached 50+ points for the fourth straight season. His career-high in goals was 14 which he reached twice (2013-14 and 2017-18), his career-high in assists was 47 (in 2018-2019) and his most points was 59 (in 2017-18). He was also remarkably durable for someone his size since he played at least 64 games in every regular season (other than 61 in the pandemic-shortened campaign).
Personally, it's a shame that Krug never won a Cup with the Bruins because he had two chances but Boston lost to a fantastic Blackhawks club then choked epically vs. the Blues as we all unfortunately remember. He became a force by 2019 with 18 points (2 goals, 16 assists) in 24 playoff games. His vicious hit against new teammate Robert Thomas (not the lousy Matchbox 20 singer) was a signature moment from that Blues series that would be an all-time play if the B's had won the series. He didn't fight much but when he did, he also had some instant classics in that area that you wouldn't necessarily expect.
Boston was eerily quiet today in free agency, their only move thus far has been re-signing injury-plagued defenseman Kevan Miller to a one-year contract worth $1.25 million dollars. Sweeney's annual free agency press conference that was scheduled for this afternoon was pushed back to tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. With perhaps the two other top free agents still available-defenseman Alex Pietrangelo (former Blue) and winger Taylor Hall (rumored to be targeted by the Bruins)-we can only hope that the B's simply needed a little more time to try to get either of those great players to sign on the dotted line. Krug is 29 so I understand why Sweeney did not want to commit for seven more years at such a high price. Still, it would be a real shame if they basically stand pat and don't at least try to improve a roster that is solid but as the champion Lightning showed in the bubble, not nearly good enough to win a Cup at the moment.
Thanks for all the wonderful memories Torey, you represented yourself very well for your entire Bruins career. You were always an extremely easy guy to root for and you will be missed around here for all that you did both on and off the ice with the B's. Good luck with the Blues (puke).
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