The St. Louis Blues suffered a major blow to their lineup when the team announced that Torey Krug will undergo ankle surgery and miss the entire 2024-25 season.
Krug’s play hasn’t been up to par over the last two seasons, but a significant factor for that reason would be that the defenseman has been battling an ankle injury for the past six years, which has never healed properly. He mentioned to the media on Wednesday that he struggled to manage the pain level of his ankle last season.
Hockey is a unique sport because of the skating aspect. Can you imagine performing at the highest level against the best players in the world for the last six years with an ankle that is constantly in pain and hinders your performance? We wish Torey Krug a speedy recovery.
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His absence from the Blues lineup leaves a particularly big hole. Krug was one of the team’s best puck-moving and offensive defensemen. And despite his smaller stature, he has never been one to shy away from the physical battles.
The organization needs someone to step up and fulfill Krug’s spot in their top four D-corps and they have several players who could.
Scott Perunovich
Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
The first candidate we’re looking at is Scott Perunovich, who essentially is a Torey Krug 2.0.
Last season, Perunovich proved himself as a dependable player for the Blues, contributing on their third pair and occasionally on the powerplay. As the season progressed, the coaching staff entrusted him with a spot in the top four for the final six games, and he may begin the upcoming season where he left off.
Related: St. Louis Blues defenseman Torey Krug knows the road to recovery will be arduous
The Blues will miss Krug’s ability to quickly move pucks on breakouts and his skill of walking the blueline and creating offense from the point. These are qualities that Perunovich possesses in his playstyle.
The question is, will he become the high-end offensive defenseman he was projected to become when he won the Hobey Baker Award with the University of Minnesota-Duluth? Or, can he play a strong two-way game and defend at a high level, while earning the trust of the coaching staff to play 20 minutes every night?
Philip Broberg
St. Louis management had to have had an inkling that Krug was in danger of missing the entire season when they went out and sent an offer sheet to Philip Broberg.
Broberg is getting paid as if he should fill that hole in the team’s top-four D-corps. However, rushing him into that role while he adjusts to his new team’s system, surroundings, and living situation, could be disastrous.
Despite being three years younger than Perunovich, Broberg has more NHL games played than him, and the experience of playing in a Stanley Cup Final.
Although it would be wise for the team to start Broberg on the third pair with veteran defender Ryan Suter, Broberg should be itching to finally unleash his talent and prove he was worthy of that 8th overall selection by Edmonton in 2019.
He’s got the desirable size for a defenseman (6-foot-3) and skates like the wind for a big man. Offensively, he reads the play well and understands when and where to jump up to assist the attack. Defense and his decision-making with the puck are the two main areas that have held him back in previous years.
Related: Philip Broberg looking forward to new challenge with St. Louis Blues
Pierre-Olivier Joseph
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
P-O Joseph is an interesting case study in this debate considering he has the most NHL experience between him, Perunovich, and Broberg, but probably is seen as the third option to take Krug’s spot.
For the past two seasons, Joseph has been a steady third-pairing blueliner for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He’s recorded 32 points and a plus-5 in 127 games in that role but was unable to elevate up the lineup.
The 6-foot-2 left-shot rearguard isn’t a flashy defenseman. That can be a good and bad thing. There isn’t one particular area of the game where he is poor (maybe his offensive skill level) but adjacently, he doesn’t have a quality that is above-average from the rest of the pack.
That asks the question, what is Joseph as an NHL player? Is he a defensive specialist who can be relied upon in marquee defensive matchups and a regular on the penalty kill? Or, is he a specialist at 5-on-5 who can drive possession for his team?
Training camp starts in a couple of weeks and some players are already in St. Louis training. If we had to rank where these three would fall in the likelihood of replacing Krug’s spot, it would be as follows:
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Scott Perunovich
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Philip Broberg
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Pierre-Olivier Joseph
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