Torey Krug will see that big payday with the Boston Bruins.

Apr 12, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman

(47) smiles at a teammate during the third period of their 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

There has been a lot of talk about the fate of Torey Krug lately. Honestly, I think we can all relax and just let the whole problem work itself out. Krug and fellow Bruin Reilly Smith are entry-level restricted free agents. This means they’ll be given whatever the Bruins can spare once all the wheeling, dealing, and trades are done.

The Bruins will use the spare cash from Marc Savard‘s long term injured-reserve status to give them both ‘acceptable’ one year deals. I’m sure that the Bruins and the players’ agents have already sat down for a “just deal with the situation and we’ll bury them in cash later” talk.

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Now CSNNE.com’s Joe Haggerty offered the possibility that Torey Krug could find himself earning a deal comparable to Toronto Maple Leafs blueliner Jake Gardiner after next season. Last week, Gardiner signed a five year, $20.25 million dollar contact to stay in the Leafs organization. That article was met by a questionable response by the staff at Puck Daddy. They were nice enough to question how worthless Krug was after saying how selfless P.K. Subban was for accepting an eight year, seventy-two million dollar deal. If that’s their idea of ‘selfless’,  I’d hate to see their idea of greedy.

“Torey Krug isn’t anywhere near as good as Jake Gardiner. Come on. They’re only “comparable” in that they are NHL defensemen.” – Ryan Lambert (Staff Member of Puck Daddy)

So, let’s break down the stats of the ‘clearly inferior’ Torey Krug to the ‘profoundly superior’ Jake Gardiner.

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Gardiner played eighty games for Toronto last year.  He helped the Toronto Maple Leafs get all the way to…..to….. well, nowhere in the post-season. He had thirty-one points (ten goals) for the Leafs. His plus/minus was below even with a -3. He had nineteen minutes in penalties, two power play goals, a short-handed goal, and one game winning goal. He finished with one hundred thirty six shots and had a shot average of 7.4%

Now, let’s look at the kid who “isn’t anywhere as good as Jake Gardiner”.

Torey Krug played one less game than Gardiner in the regular season. The clearly inadequate Krug somehow put up forty (fourteen goals) points for the Black and Gold. His plus minus was a +18 (My math could be wrong, but that’s a twenty one point difference.). Perhaps the twenty-eight minutes in penalties somehow labels Krug a pale comparison to Gardiner. Torey Krug also didn’t have a short handed goal. He did have six power play goals and two game winners.

Krug’s inability to play at Gardiner’s level meant he only got one hundred and eighty-three shots on the goal last season. For those of you who are curious, Torey Krug shot percentage was 7.8%.

Thank goodness we have the reliable and accurate staff at Puck Daddy to keep us in check around here.

So, when Torey Krug finally gets the chance to earn his first big NHL contract from the Boston Bruins, he may want to ask for a little more than Gardiner. According to the numbers, he’s bloody well earned it.