Torey Krug has been one of the best players for the St. Louis Blues, and yet the team is expected to miss his services to begin the 2024-25 season with the defenseman rumored to be diagnosed with pre-arthritic changes in his left ankle, which resulted from a bone fracture sustained earlier in his NHL career. This means that the star is expected to come up with some interesting recovery process in the game if he is going to play in the next campaign.

At the age of 33, Krug has already sustained an injury in the previous offseason and has missed some crucial games with different injuries in his first three campaigns with the Blues. While he has already agreed to waive his no-trade clause with the Blues, it does seem that Krug won’t be likely traded to another team especially if he is confirmed to have a long-term injury that would keep him out of the picture for a while.

This injury sets big expectations for the Blues considering that they finished just below the eighth seed in the Western Conference with a 43-33 record, which sees them two games behind the qualifying spot for the previous playoff spot. Losing one of their top stars mean that the team will have to work with what they have.

An Unsure Injury for Krug

Krug will undergo a rehab that is slated to take place for six to eight weeks – which will likely hit the schedule for the Blues’ training camp. For now, the Blues have listed him as out indefinitely, which means that he won’t be joining the roster for the coming games, and it might stay that way if the injury is perceived to be a critical injury that will need a whole season of recovery.

So far, the Blues claimed that the condition is a “cumulative result of a bone fracture suffered earlier in his playing career.” Krug has played a total of 77 games in the 2023-24 season, which was his highest total of games played since the 2016-17 season – which was a run with the Boston Celtics.

The 13-year veteran is known well for being one of the best scorers in the game and has only been limited by tough injuries so far. In the last two seasons, Krug has been a combined -57 since going +34 in his first two campaigns with the Blues.

Not a Good Look for the Blues

The Blues will have to wait for the actual evaluation of Krug’s status in the game. Should Krug be out for the entire season, this leaves St. Louis with just eight defensemen to start the season, led by Colton Parayko, Nick Leddy, Justin Faulk, Suter, Scott Perunovich, Tyler Tucker, Pierre-Olivier Joseph, and Matthew Kessel. It is worth noting that the Blues still look to be in fine shape without Krug in terms of depth, so they won’t need to really replace him right away.

The last two seasons have been quite tough for the Blues so far. They have not qualified for the playoffs so far after making it to the postseason since the 2018-19 campaign. Since winning the Stanley Cup Final in the 2019 edition, nothing has worked well for the Blues with a lot of poor performances and injuries to their tough stars, and Krug’s status is no different so far.