Boston Bruins defenseman Torey Krug is a Royal Oak, Mich. native, and also suited up for the Michigan State Spartans.
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He’s also an unrestricted free-agent, and there has been speculation that his hometown Detroit Red Wings could be eying him for a Motor City homecoming.
However, Krug made it clear last week that he has no intention of taking a hometown discount now that his four year, $21 million deal is set to expire.
“I’m very opposed to that. I’ve bet on myself and I’ve taken shorter term deals and less amount of money my whole career now,” Krug said.
“This is my time in terms of my value at its peak and I have the ability and I’m in a position now where I need to make the most of it. I’m very opposed to something like that. I’ve done it long enough now. That’s the situation I’m facing.”
The Athletic put together a list of projected contracts that this year’s top NHL free agents could command. Their speculation for Krug? $7.28M x 5.3 years:
“There will be a lot of teams questioning whether it’s worth paying a defensemen top money if he doesn’t play top minutes, pointing to what happened with Kevin Shattenkirk and the Rangers a few years ago. Torey Krug falls into that camp as a stalwart on the Bruins’ second pair, sheltered by a top pair that eats a lot of tough minutes.
I don’t know if that’s completely fair to Krug who’s been stuck behind Zdeno Chara on the depth chart for his entire career – just because he hasn’t doesn’t mean he can’t.
It bodes well for Krug that his defensive numbers are very strong, working well on a pair with Brandon Carlo. Maybe that’s all Carlo, but with the right fit Krug has already proven he can help stifle opponent’s ability to create offense. That’s a plus for a defenseman who sees medium usage that he could be up for more, and he’s obviously a fantastic puck-mover. The fact he’s one of the league’s best power-play quarterbacks is also a plus and his addition could very much help a team’s power play. For the past two seasons Krug has been on pace for 38 power play points and that’s where a lot of his value comes from, but keeping that up outside of Boston may prove difficult.
My model currently projects him for 35 power play points, but if that drops to even 25 (normally a top five rate), Krug’s win rate would drop by 0.4 wins, lowering his value by a full $1.5 million per season. Figuring out how much of Krug’s power play ability is his own and how much is from playing with three of the league’s best forwards is critical.”
Do you think Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman will reach out to Krug?
– – Quotes via Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic Link – –
