The Blues’ Torey Krug prepares for a faceoff during a game against the Wild on Saturday, March 2, 2024, at Enterprise Center. Krug will miss the 2024-25 season after undergoing surgery on his left ankle.
Blues defenseman Torey Krug will miss the upcoming 2024-25 season due to surgery on his left ankle, the team announced Tuesday morning.
Krug was diagnosed this summer with pre-arthritic changes in his ankle and was attempting to rehabilitate the injury through non-surgical means. The announcement comes about two weeks before the Blues are set to begin training camp.
Krug, 33, will speak with reporters about the injury and the surgery Wednesday morning.
The news clarifies the Blues’ situation on the back end, where they previously had 10 defensemen signed to one-way contracts. It also opens up a spot in the top four on defense, where Krug had played most of his four years in Ƶ, primarily paired with Justin Faulk.
The Blues will likely turn to Nick Leddy or Ryan Suter to play in the top four, joining Faulk, Colton Parayko and Philip Broberg, who general manager Doug Armstrong said was viewed as a top-four option on defense.
Leddy played alongside Parayko all of last season as the top pairing in Ƶ, a resurgent season for both veteran defensemen. Suter, meanwhile, signed a performance bonus-laden contract over the summer after he was bought out by the Stars.
Ƶ will still have to trim a player or two when constructing its opening night roster, perhaps from the group of Tyler Tucker, Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Scott Perunovich, but Krug’s injury status means there is one fewer decision to make.
Krug’s absence also means there is an opportunity for someone to step forward on the power play.
Ƶ Blues defenseman Torey Krug said the pain has stuck with him since an ankle injury in 2018, but thought he wouldn't have to get any serious surgery until after he retired. (Video courtesy of Ƶ Blues)
The easy choice for the Blues is to move Faulk from the second unit to the top unit, but they could also ask Perunovich to take over as the team’s top power-play quarterback. He did it successfully during the 2022 playoffs but hasn’t done so consistently since then.
Even last season, when he played 54 games, he was not a constant presence on the man-advantage until the tail end of the season, when Krug was scratched as the team fell out of the playoff picture.
Parayko, Suter and Leddy have also all run a power play during their careers. Broberg ran the power play with Bakersfield in the AHL last year but was used sparingly in that role with the Oilers. Does he become a potential option during his first year in Ƶ?
From a cap perspective, the Blues don’t need to put Krug and his $6.5 million cap hit on long-term injured reserve. Even with him on normal injured reserve, Oskar Sundqvist potentially on injured reserve and a full 23-man roster, the Blues would likely still have about $400,000 in available cap space.
Players on normal IR still count toward the salary cap and must be out at least seven days. Players on LTIR must be out 10 games and 24 days, and they allow their team to exceed the salary cap by roughly their cap hit, depending on timing and current roster construction.
The Blues would likely wait to put Krug on LTIR until they absolutely must due to accumulating injuries. Teams using LTIR do not accrue cap space and are subject to bonus overage charges for the following season. Given Suter’s hefty bonuses (totaling $2.225 million), the Blues would like to avoid having that count toward next year’s cap.
When he returns for the 2025-26 season, Krug will have two seasons remaining on his seven-year contract. In his 255 games with Ƶ, Krug has 22 goals and 124 assists.
