Krug preparing to possibly become free agent, wants to stay with Bruins

Torey Krug said he has to prepare for the possibility that he will become an unrestricted free agent after this season.

"I don't really know what's going to happen," the Boston Bruins defenseman, who has maintained that he would like to re-sign with the Bruins, said Monday. "I'm just trying to take it day by day and worry about the [Stanley Cup] Playoffs right now. I'll have to probably prepare for free agency, and we'll see what happens there."

Training camp opened for the Bruins on Monday with the start of Phase 3 of the NHL Return to Play Plan after the season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. The 24 participating teams will travel July 26 to the two hub cities -- Boston as one of 12 Eastern Conference teams to Toronto ,and the 12 Western Conference teams to Edmonton -- where play will begin Aug. 1 with the Stanley Cup Qualifiers.

The Bruins (44-14-12, .714 points percentage), Tampa Bay Lightning (43-21-6, .657), Washington Capitals (41-20-8, .652) and Philadelphia Flyers (41-21-7, .645), the top four teams in the East, will play each other once (three games per team) in a round-robin to determine seeding for the playoffs. The Bruins' first game is Aug. 2 against the Flyers at Scotiabank Arena.

Krug, who turned 29 on April 12, is in the final season of a four-year contract with an average annual value of $5.25 million. He had 49 points (nine goals, 40 assists), 28 coming on the power play, In 61 games this season.

Krug has played his nine NHL seasons with the Bruins and scored 337 points (67 goals, 270 assists) in 523 games since signing with Boston as an undrafted free agent out of Michigan State. But with the NHL salary cap remaining $81.5 million for next season, he acknowledged that his preferred scenario may not work out.

Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said Sunday that Boston may have to make some hard decisions about signing players. He also said that the Bruins are open to negotiating during Phases 3 and 4 on a case-by-case basis.

"I'm not going to be overly aggressive," Sweeney said. "… But if something makes sense, then we'll do it."

Krug said he is open to conversations about a new contract during training camp but that he would prefer to concentrate only on games once they begin. The defenseman is in a different situation now than when he last signed a contract, on June 30, 2016. He has a daughter, born right after the Bruins played in the Stanley Cup Final last June, and is looking at what could be the final big contract of his career.

"You have to think about schools, you have to think about quality of life, living in certain climates, things like that," Krug said. "These are all something that you take into consideration, and we'll see. But I think at the end of the day, competing and being part of a core leadership group has all been important to me in trying to build something and be a part of something special. You always want to do that."

His focus has swung to helping the Bruins prepare for the Qualifiers and the playoffs, for trying to win the Stanley Cup championship that eluded them last season when they lost Game 7 to the St. Louis Blues.

"Being a free agent that goes into this situation, it's definitely risky," Krug said. "I'd be lying to you if I said it's not. Having three, four months off and then going right into the most intense hockey you could possibly play at any level, there's always risk for injury, no matter when you play. But, certainly in this moment, you don't have the normal training that you do, the preparation, and all the work to make sure your body feels good and you can go in there without any worries.

"But we'll have a little bit of a ramp-up here, [and] anytime you get a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup, I think you take it every time you get it."