Was David Pastrnak Trying To Bring Torey Krug Back?

Was Boston Bruins winger David Pastrnal trying to recruit his former teammate Torey Krug back to the Bruins?

The St. Louis Blues and Philadelphia Flyers had worked out a trade that would’ve reportedly seen Krug, and either the 25th or 29th overall at the 2023 NHL Draft, traded to the Flyers in exchange for center Kevin Hayes and defenseman Travis Sanheim dealt to the Blues. However, the trade was put on hold when Krug would not waive his no-trade clause to facilitate the trade. The leaking of the trade details lit up social media, and a Boston Bruins fan tweeted out the famous video of Torey Krug’s thunderous hit on St. Louis Blues forward Robert Thomas in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, saying ‘BRING TOREY HOME!’

Moments later, Pastrnak retweeted the fan’s tweet.

Tweets by pastrnak96

So was Pastrnak trying to persuade Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney to re-acquire the former Bruins defenseman, who he let walk in unrestricted free agency back in the 2020 NHL offseason. Torey Krug almost immediately signed a seven-year, $45.5 million contract on the NHL free agent market. Now it appears the Blues would like to get out of that contract with a salary cap hit of $6.5 million and four seasons left on it.

After five-straight seasons of hitting the 40-point plateau (including three straight 50+ points seasons), Krug has two 32-point seasons with a 43-point campaign sandwiched in between in his first three seasons with the Blues.

Pastrnak and Krug were very close teammates on and off the ice and had plenty of unique pre-game rituals they would do together.

On the ice, they were poetry in motion on the powerplay for the Boston Bruins.

When the @NHLBruins are going, they're going. (David Pastrnak, Torey Krug, Brad Marchand) pic.twitter.com/b4WWtKaudY

— NHL (@NHL) September 28, 2019

While a Krug return to the Boston Bruins would be a cool story, it’s highly unlikely Sweeney wants a redux at that cap hit, and with that term left. As of early Sunday evening, Krug had not changed his mind and waived the no-trade clause. If he does though, don’t bank on it being for the Boston Bruins.