Boston Bruins Off-Season: Sign Torey Krug
Today was breakup day for the Boston Bruins. The media went into the locker room for the last time this season to hear how all the players were disappointed about not making the playoffs(again). Some players know they’re coming back to Boston in September, and a few of them understand that their time as a member of the Black and Gold has come to a close.
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In between the Brad Marchands and the Zac Rinaldos there are a few players who are in limbo. Bruins defenseman Torey Krug is one of those players. Krug is set to become a restricted free agent July 1. During today’s media event the 24-year old Krug revealed that he and the Bruins organization have not opened discussions about a contract extension.
“Right now, I’m a Boston Bruin, and I’d love to play here my whole life,” said Krug about his feelings toward the team.“I haven’t really thought about that, to be honest. But I love the city. I live here now and want to be here for a long time.”
Keeping Krug seems like a no-brainer for Boston. Then again, not signing Zac Rinaldo during last year’s offseason seemed like a no-brainer as well. It is imperative that the Black and Gold come to terms with Krug as soon as possible and strongly resist the urge to upset the apple cart and remove important pieces of the team.
Krug came into this season promising to be worthy of top-four defenseman time. (With Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg not at 100-percent to start the season, the B’s didn’t have much choice.) He proved to the organization and the fans that he was capable of taking on that kind of responsibilities. He saw time on the Bruins power play units, and was trusted to be a solid three-zone, two-way defenseman.
Krug finished this season with 44 points, good enough for sixth in overall scoring. He had a career-high 40 assists this season. While he was more than adequate as the extra man on the attack, his goal production was far below expectations. Krug only netted four goals in the 81 games he played. That works out to a dismal 1.6% shooting percentage.
Torey Krug will need to work on his shooting in the offseason. That’s a given. Other than that, Krug was the complete player the Bruins needed him to be. Hopefully, someone in the Bruins front office will take a moment away from burning all those Rinaldo jerseys and sit down with Torey Krug’s agent and come up with a plan to keep him around for the next few seasons.