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Blues Lose Veteran Defenseman for Season

The St. Louis Blues will be without a key veteran defenseman for the entire 2024-25 season.

Nick Horwat

Mar 11, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; St. Louis Blues defenseman Torey Krug (47) gets set for a face-off during the third period against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 11, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; St. Louis Blues defenseman Torey Krug (47) gets set for a face-off during the third period against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports / bob dechiara-usa today sports
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The St. Louis Blue have announced they will be without a veteran defender for the entirety of the 2024-25 season. With just a few weeks until the opening of training camps, the Blues reveal that Torey Krug will be the entire year due to ankle surgery.

Blues general manager Doug Armstrong announced that Krug will undergo surgery to address pre-arthritic changes in his left ankle.

Krug and the Blues chose this direction after long efforts to rehabilitate the injury without the need for surgery. Non-surgical interventions were used but to no success.

The Blues understood that Krug’s season could be in jeopardy in mid-July when he was officially diagnosed with pre-arthritic changes. The issues were spurred by an ankle injury suffered earlier in his career.

Krug’s initial rehab was set for six to eight weeks before any reevaluations. It was that new evaluation that determined surgery would be necessary, forcing him out for the year.

The 33-year-old has three years remaining on his contract which earns him $6.5 million annually. The Blues signed Krug ahead of the 2020-21 season to a seven-year contract.

To date, Krug has played 255 games in a Blues sweater, scoring 22 goals and 124 assists for 146 total points. Before joining the Blues, Krug was a steady presence on the Boston Bruins blue line.

In 523 games with the Bruins, Krug put up 67 goals and 270 assists for 337 total points. He was a vital piece for Boston in the playoffs, even leading the postseason in assists (16) in 2019. Ironically, the Bruins lost in the Stanley Cup Final to the Blues.

The Blues will have a hole to fill without Krug in the lineup, but singing Philip Broberg to an offer sheet, and taking him from the Edmonton Oilers should help quite a bit.

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Nick Horwat
NICK HORWAT

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