Boston Bruins: What are the options with Torey Krug?

BOSTON, MA - JUNE 12: Torey Krug #47 of the Boston Bruins warms up before the game against the St. Louis Blues in Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Final during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the TD Garden on June 12, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - JUNE 12: Torey Krug #47 of the Boston Bruins warms up before the game against the St. Louis Blues in Game Seven of the Stanley Cup Final during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the TD Garden on June 12, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)
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ST. LOUIS, MO - JUN 09: Boston Bruins defenseman Torey Krug (47) skates with the puck ahead of St. Louis Blues center Oskar Sundqvist (70) during Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Boston Bruins and the St. Louis Blues, on June 09, 2019, at Enterprise Center, St. Louis, Mo. (Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO – JUN 09: Boston Bruins defenseman Torey Krug (47) skates with the puck ahead of St. Louis Blues center Oskar Sundqvist (70) during Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final between the Boston Bruins and the St. Louis Blues, on June 09, 2019, at Enterprise Center, St. Louis, Mo. (Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Option 1: Play out the remainder of his contract

Torey Krug continued to prove his worth throughout the Boston Bruins’ Stanley Cup playoff run this season. Although it ended with a disappointing Game 7 loss to the St. Louis Blues, the Bruins still have reasons to be positive going into next season.

The young players just learned a very valuable lesson about what it takes to win the Stanley Cup and most of the core players, including Krug, are still in their prime.

While some fans have suggested that Torey Krug needs to go in order to clear cap space for Charlie McAvoy’s new deal, that’s not necessarily true. Yes, the salary cap isn’t expected to rise as much as initially anticipated, but the Boston Bruins are still in a pretty good position to sign McAvoy as well as their other pending free agents.

He has a strong partnership with Brandon Carlo and although someone else might find similar chemistry with Carlo, why fix what isn’t broken?

Krug is most valuable to the Bruins on the power play, where he was a big reason why the team ranked third in the regular season, converting on 25.9 percent of their opportunities. That number jumped up to 32.4 percent during the playoffs, where Krug recorded 12 of his 18 points with the man advantage.

If the Boston Bruins believe that their window to win the Stanley Cup is right now, they need to believe that having Torey Krug on the ice now is worth the risk of losing him as a free agent next summer.