St. Louis Blues defenseman Torey Krug is not expected to play again due to his ankle injury last summer, general manager Doug Armstrong told reporters Tuesday at the club’s end-of-season press conference.
“I talked to him, he was at the rink the other day, he’s just getting almost normal day-to-day living with his leg, his ankle, so I’m not expecting him to play again,” Armstrong said, per team-provided video. “Now, he’s hoping I’m wrong and I’m hoping I’m wrong and he’s pushing, but the surgery that he had it was very, very invasive.”
Krug admitted he sustained the initial injury in the 2018 playoffs while playing for the Boston Bruins.
“I fractured my ankle six years ago now in the playoffs when I was with Boston. Over the last few years, it’s starting to get worse and worse,” Krug told reporters, per team-provided video. “I’ve been able to manage it for so long now. Last year was definitely tough, trying to manage the pain level. This summer, I wasn’t really able to do the things I needed to do to prepare for the NHL season, a lot of pain and stuff.”
Over the years since the injury, Krug had good days and bad days. Still, after more than six weeks of rehabilitation, the 33-year-old determined that having the surgery was the only way to address the “pre-arthritic changes” in his left ankle.
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Krug’s career is expected to draw to a close after playing the first four seasons of the seven-year, $45.5 million deal he signed with the Blues in free agency in 2020. He will likely remain on long-term injured reserve for the final two years of his contract at a $6.5 million cap hit before presumably officially retiring upon expiry in 2027. If St. Louis doesn’t want to deal with his contract, they could trade it to a team needing an LTIR cushion to stay cap-compliant.
The Michigan native posted 89 goals and 394 assists for 483 points across 778 games with the Bruins and Blues.
Featured image via Eric Bolte/Imagn Images
