Torey Krug Signs Seven-Year, $45 Million Contract With Blues

After nine seasons with the Boston Bruins, defenseman Torey Krug is leaving the only team he ever played for in the NHL to go to the St. Louis Blues on a seven-year contract worth $45.5 million. The contract carries an annual salary cap hit of $6.5 million.

The Boston Bruins and Torey Krug have repeatedly said they would both like to find a way to keep Krug in Boston but when the clock struck noon on Friday and free agency began, the Bruins and Krug had still not put pen to paper on a new contract. Just over 8.5 hours later, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet tweeted that Krug was headed to the St. Louis Blues, and minutes later, the Blues announced that they had indeed signed the Bruins’ highest-scoring defenseman for the last six seasons.

The Blues agree to terms with defenseman Torey Krug on a 7-year contract worth $45.5 million dollars.

📄 : https://t.co/NhRcYLRvTH pic.twitter.com/k5bcbFGh5S

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) October 10, 2020

Shockingly, Torey Krug told the media Friday night that the last offer he received from the Bruins was last year.

“About a year ago,” Krug said when asked when the last offer the Bruins made to him was. “There was just no communication. Nothing happened.”

That’s the complete opposite of what NHL insiders like Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported Friday night. Friedman implied his source was the Bruins.

As the day went on and even after the Bruins signed defenseman Kevan Miller to a one-year, $1 million contract just after 4 PM ET, there was more radio silence from the Torey Krug camp and the Bruins. When the Bruins announced the Miller signing, they also postponed Don Sweeney’s schedule 5 PM ET press conference with no new time set for him to address the media. Speculation began that the Bruins were up to something bigger and right after Torey Krug signed with the Blues, the Bruins officially postponed the Sweeney Zoom call until 1 PM ET on Saturday.

The Krug signing actually became public during the Miller Zoom call with the media and when notified by Boston Hockey Now that Torey Krug was now a Blue, Miller was stunned.

“Ah, man. Did he really? That’s a bummer,” said Miller who broke into the Bruins organization around the same time as Krug and considers him a good friend. “Ah, man. Obviously, he’ll certainly be missed from a player standpoint. From a personal standpoint, I’ve been basically with the guy for my entire career and his entire career. He’s a good friend and I wish him nothing but the best.”

Miller then joked that Krug won’t be considered a friend on the ice anymore.

“But I’ll tell him to keep his head up when we face St. Louis,” the Bruins rugged rearguard quipped. “In all reality, that’s tough news for us but I wish him the best and he’ll certainly be missed.”

Torey Krug had nine goals and 40 assists in 61 games this past season. Krug had 40 points or more in his last five seasons with three 50-points or more season mixed in there. In 523 games with the Bruins, Torey Krug had 67 goals and 270 assists. He finished his Bruins career with 11 goals and 41 assists in 75 games and helped the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Final in 2013 and in 2019 where they of course lost to the Blues.