St. Louis Blues’ Torey Krug to undergo ankle surgery, will miss all of 2024-25

It appears that the St. Louis Blues will be without Torey Krug for the entirety of the 2024-25 season.

The Blues announced on Tuesday morning that the defenseman will undergo surgery on his left ankle and is expected to miss next season.

Krug’s status for the season was up in the air for most of the summer, as it was revealed in July that he was diagnosed with a pre-arthritic issue in his ankle. He worked on rehabilitating the ankle over the course of the offseason without using surgery, with a plan to re-evaluate the injury closer to the season and see if surgery was needed then. Obviously, the rehabilitation didn’t work, so surgery is required for the injury.

Krug was coming off of a season that wasn’t quite on par with his prime seasons, but still similar to his production in the year prior, as he had 4 goals and 35 assists for 39 points in 77 games. His 0.51 points per game was the same as his 2022-23 season, which was also his lowest per game rate since his first two full seasons in the NHL in 2013-14 and 2014-15.

Krug was an undrafted free agent signing by the Boston Bruins, who signed him to his entry-level contract in the final weeks of the 2011-12 regular season after a strong three-season stint with Michigan State University. Krug made his NHL debut with two games that season, along with another game during the 2012-13 season before securing a permanent role with the Bruins during their run to the Stanley Cup Final that year.

Krug went on to play seven full seasons with the Bruins before he signed a seven-year contract with a $6.5 million cap hit with the Blues in free agency, where he’s since spent the past four seasons. He will be entering the fifth year of that contract this season.

The Blues will look to find a way to replace Krug’s minutes with some of the additions they’ve made this summer. Along with signing Ryan Suter in unrestricted free agency, St. Louis also signed Philip Broberg to an offer sheet, a deal that the Edmonton Oilers opted to not match. That’s also how they acquired Dylan Holloway, who joins Radek Faksa, Mathieu Joseph and Alexandre Texier as the Blues’ notable additions up front.