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By Ken Campbell
The only team that ever drafted Torey Krug was the OHL’s Plymouth Whalers – let’s bow our heads in a moment of silence, please – who took him in the 13th round of the 2007 proceedings. Clearly, they were not scared off by the fact that he was 5-foot-3 and 125 pounds. A year later, Krug and his father made the almost five-hour drive from their home in suburban Detroit to Indianapolis with the express purpose of getting cut from a USHL team so he could return home to play high-school hockey.
Krug instead made the Indiana Ice at 17, and then really good things started to happen. But all the way through his days leading up to the NHL – where he was never drafted, either – he had to fight the perception he was too small, too fat and too weak to outmuscle opponents. He fought that stigma to two appearances in the Stanley Cup final and almost $44 million in career earnings.
So, yeah, Torey Krug has overcome a few things over the years. And so it is in 2023-24, when he started his fourth year of a seven-year deal with the St. Louis Blues under, let’s say, awkward circumstances. After a disastrous 2022-23 season, both in terms of his own on-ice struggles and those of his team, Krug was forced to invoke his no-trade clause over the summer when GM Doug Armstrong put together a deal to send him to the Philadelphia Flyers for Travis Sanheim. With three children under the age of four at home, Krug vetoed the deal, as was his right when he was signed to his contract in the 2020 off-season. But it’s never a good feeling when the guy who signed you to that deal engineers a trade to try to move you.
WHAT’S BEST FOR MY CAREER IS FOR US TO WIN HOCKEY GAMES. I TAKE A LOT OF PRIDE IN THIS JERSEY– Torey Krug-
“I’m human,” Krug said to reporters in training camp. “I understand. You don’t do your job and people want change, whether it’s your boss or fans, and that’s part of the gig. From an individual standpoint, I want to do what’s best for my career, and I think what’s best for my career is for us to win hockey games. I take a lot of pride in wearing this jersey. There’s a great history here, and the fans are awesome. I’m here to make decisions for my career, for my family, and ultimately, what’s best for this team as well.”
So now, virtually at the midpoint of a deal that hasn’t aged well, Krug and the Blues are at a crossroads. Krug has made it clear he has no intention of leaving St. Louis, and he has a complete no-trade clause this season and next, so they’re going to have to make it work somehow. Krug is no longer the double-digit-goal, 50-point machine he was in Boston when he qualified as the best small defenseman in the NHL. The early part of 2023-24 was just as challenging as the disappointing season in 2022-23. It was an early sample size, but the Blues got out of the gate as the second-lowest scoring team in the league, ahead of only the potentially historically bad San Jose Sharks, and Krug was struggling offensively right along with the rest of the team. But just as was the case when people first doubted him, one thing is certain: there will be no lack of effort from Krug.
“If you know anything about me or my history, I’m going to show up and go to work every day, and I think my teammates understand that and expect that as well,” Krug said. “We had a crappy year last year, so when you don’t win, anything is up for grabs. Anything goes. That’s the business part of hockey. If you want to be part of the solution, you put your foot down and you try to do your job.”
TO BE PART OF THE SOLUTION, YOU PUT YOUR FOOT DOWN AND YOU TRY TO DO YOUR JOB– Torey Krug-
Krug wants to be part of the solution in St. Louis. Perhaps that means redefining his game. But the Blues need to find a way to be successful with five of their top six D-men over 30. Three of them – Krug, Justin Faulk and Colton Parayko – are playing with cap hits of $6.5 million on deals with no-trade clauses. Krug and Faulk are signed for the next three seasons after this one, and Parayko has six years left after this one. The conundrum is those pacts are virtually untradeable unless those players are performing at a high level and agree to a deal. But in that case, the Blues wouldn’t want to trade them.
“I understand it’s a results-based business and we’re judged on that, but I think we’re as deep as anyone,” Krug said. “We might not be as sexy as some of the other D-corps out there, but we’re putting in the work, and we have too much pride to move forward and not get better. We still have a great D-corps with a lot of game experience, and none of us are happy with last year.”