Torey Krug is better than some fans think

The veteran defenseman doesn’t deserve to be bashed. 

To compensate for the loss of Alex Pietrangelo during free agency, the St. Louis Blues signed Torey Krug away from the Boston Bruins. Krug signed a seven-year, $45.5 million contract on October 9, 2020. He was one of the top 20 free agents and arguably the second best free agent defenseman in the 2020 offseason.

While some people remember the bad better than the good, I’m not one of those persons. The Blues got swept in the first round by the Colorado Avalanche, but they finished the 2020-21 regular season on a positive note. During the last quarter of the season, St. Louis benefited from Krug’s ability to handle the puck, make plays, and shake things up in the defensive zone. Krug also has a fast-paced game. He was second on the team in assists with 30, tying captain Ryan O’Reilly. He also had a plus-11 rating, which was the third-highest rating of his career thus far.

Krug played in every game in 2020-21 until he sustained an upper-body injury and didn’t play ahead of the Blues’ three-game road trip in St. Paul, Minn. against the Minnesota Wild.

Fast forward to October 2021. Krug appears to be more comfortable with the Blues’ system. This is probably in part due to his increased understanding of the team’s system.

I believe Krug will rebound like Justin Faulk did last season. Faulk finished the season with 25 points (7 goals, 18 assists) and a plus-11 rating. I like the second defensive pairing of Krug and Faulk. So far, so good.

Like NHL on TNT said, he (Krug) didn’t get an assist, but he made it. Krug’s effort was brought up after Vladimir Tarasenko’s go-ahead goal that gave the Blues a 2-1 lead at 9:49 of the third period.

Krug hated winger David Perron before they were teammates. But there’s no bad blood between the two as Perron recently tweeted on Wednesday morning that the feeling was mutual…. but that their time together as teammates has changed that. After the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, Perron probably isn’t the only Blue that Krug has had to win over.

The Blues won 3-1 over the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday. With the win, St. Louis had their first-ever three-game road win streak to start a season and their first 3-0-0 start since 2017-18.