St. Louis Blues defenseman Torey Krug has been diagnosed with pre-arthritic changes in his left ankle and could miss the 2024-25 season if surgery is necessary, the team announced Tuesday.
Krug, 33, will be re-evaluated in six to eight weeks, which is approximately the start of training camp, at which point it may be determined that surgery is needed. In the next two months, he will rehabilitate with non-surgical treatment. He’s currently listed as out indefinitely.
The club said in a statement that the condition is “a cumulative result of a bone fracture suffered earlier in his playing career.”
Krug played 77 games in 2023-24, his highest total since the 2016-17 season, when he was with the Boston Bruins, and he played 21 minutes, 57 seconds per game, the second-highest average of his career. He scored four goals and 39 points but had a team-worst minus-31 rating. He’s a combined minus-57 over the past two seasons after going plus-34 in his first two seasons with the Blues.
The 5-foot-9, 194-pound 13-year veteran has been the subject of much trade speculation this offseason after he invoked his no-trade clause to block a move to the Philadelphia Flyers a year ago.
Neither Blues general manager Doug Armstrong nor Krug were available for comment Tuesday.
How did this happen?
All we know at this point is that the condition is the result of a bone fracture suffered sometime earlier in Krug’s career. He did miss 13 games with a lower-body injury after blocking a shot against the Vegas Golden Knights on Dec. 23, 2022, so that could have been what started it. It’s also not known when Krug received the diagnosis or began feeling the level of pain that led to the evaluation.
What does this mean for Krug?
Trade speculation had been heating up after the Blues signed Ryan Suter in free agency, giving them nine NHL defensemen, but a source close to Krug recently told The Athletic that he would not be willing to waive his no-trade clause at this point. Now with Krug potentially having a long-term injury, there wouldn’t be a trade market even if he would agree to waive his clause.
How does it affect the Blues’ defense?
If the news isn’t good when Krug is re-evaluated, that would put the Blues at eight defensemen to start the season: Colton Parayko, Nick Leddy, Justin Faulk, Suter, Scott Perunovich, Tyler Tucker, Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Matthew Kessel. So in terms of depth, the club is still in fine shape without Krug. According to PuckPedia, the Blues are $7.34 million under the salary cap, so at the moment, they don’t need to place him on Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) for salary-cap purposes.
(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
