Blues at risk of losing Krug after only tinkering with roster this summer

Amid a relatively quiet off-season for the St. Louis Blues, the team announced Tuesday that defenceman Torey Krug could miss the entire 2024-25 season with an ankle injury.

Krug was diagnosed with pre-arthritic changes in his left ankle and will be re-evaluated in six-to-eight weeks. He will spend the next two months working to rehab his ankle, but should he require surgery, Krug will miss the upcoming campaign. 

After missing the playoffs last season, the Blues have largely worked around the edges of their roster this off-season and were quiet in free agency earlier this month.

The team traded veteran forward Kevin Hayes to the Pittsburgh Penguins in late June, throwing in a second-round pick to shed his $3.57 million cap hit, which runs through 2025-26. St. Louis retained the services of depth winger Kasperi Kapanen on July 1 with a one-year deal, added veteran blueliner Ryan Suter after he was bought out for the second time, and added more defensive depth by signing Pierre-Olivier Joseph to a one-year contract.

The Blues, who still have more than $7.3 million in cap space, per PuckPedia, also took advantage of that space in adding forward Mathieu Joseph from the Ottawa Senators and Radek Faksa from the Dallas Stars in cap dumps. General manager Doug Armstrong also acquired a third-round pick along with Joseph, while Faksa was traded straight up for future considerations. 

The biggest off-season splash for the Blues came in signing forward Pavel Buchnevich to a six-year, $48 million contract extension. The 29-year-old winger, who had 27 goals and 63 points in 80 games this past season, will see his cap hit rise from $5.8 million to $8 million when the new deal kicks in next year. 

“We need the big dogs to be the big dogs - that’s the reality of it,” Armstrong said, per The Athletic, as he reflected on the team’s off-season changes. “We need Jordan Kyrou to have a good year, Robert Thomas to have a good year and Pavel Buchnevich to have a good year. They’re going to have to maximize their games for us to have a good season.

“But we’re comfortable where we are today. We’re a better team right now than we were at the end of last season. We’re faster, we’re more determined, and we’re bigger.

"It’s not sexy, but it’s effective.”

How does Krug's loss affect the Blues?

With few new faces entering training camp, the Blues are set to rely on the majority of the same roster from last season to get back in the playoffs this season. Losing Krug could impact their chances.

The 33-year-old defenceman had four goals and 39 points in 77 games last season, while averaging 21:57 of ice time per game - tied for third-most on the team. He's been a staple on the Blues blueline since joining the team on a seven-year, $45.5 million contract in 2020, but the team has been open to moving on from him in the past.

St. Louis reportedly had a deal in place to send Krug to the Philadelphia Flyers last off-season, but he elected not to waive his no-trade clause to facilitate the deal. Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic also wrote Tuesday that trade speculation had begun to heat up again after the Blues signed Suter this month, but Krug has remained uninterested in waiving his trade protection for a move. 

Armstrong also admitted prior to adding Suter that the left side on the defence, where Krug typically features, was an area he was looking to upgrade.

“If we come back with the same group, it’s the same group,” Armstrong said. “With our right side being pretty well connected with Parayko, Faulk and [Matthew] Kessel, we were focusing on the left side. If you look at the left-shot D that have signed [in free agency], it wasn’t a huge market in that area. So, now you look at trades, and you look at other ways to improve your team.”

Rutherford notes that with Krug sidelined, the Blues are set to enter camp with eight defencemen in Colton Parayko, Nick Leddy, Justin Faulk, Suter, Scott Perunovich, Tyler Tucker, Joseph and Kessel. 

Placing Krug on long-term injured reserve would free his $6.5 million in space, giving the Blues more than $13 million to use in potentially boosting their roster.

The Blues finished with a 43-33-6 record last season, missing the playoffs by six points. The team started the year 13-14-1 under Craig Berube before replacing him with interim Drew Bannister, who guided the Blues to a 30-19-5 record. Bannister was officially hired as the team's head coach in May on a two-year deal as the franchise hopes to build on their strong finish moving forward.

St. Louis made the playoffs in 10 of 11 seasons before missing in each of the past two years. The franchise won its first-ever Stanley Cup in 2018.