Krug to miss season for Blues with ankle injury

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Torey Krug couldn't help but get emotional.

The 33-year-old came to the realization while fighting back tears that not only will he miss this season after it was announced Tuesday by the St. Louis Blues that the defenseman will require surgery to repair a pre-arthritic condition in his left ankle, but there is an unknown factor of how this will affect Krug's career moving forward.

"We don't really know that, to be honest," Krug said Wednesday at Centene Community Ice Center, the team's practice facility. "It's just something I've got to take care of and kind of take it day by day, week by week, month by month and kind of go from there. Obviously being out for the year, you can understand it's a pretty big surgery that I have to get. Looking forward, I can't forecast too much. Just got to stay in the moment."

Krug, who signed a seven-year, $45.5 million contract ($6.5 million average annual value) Oct. 9, 2020, and has three years remaining on it, tried to play through the condition countless times. It finally got to a point where the realization set in that Krug would need to get screws put in place to fuse his ankle bone together.

"You always try to hold out hope that you get healthy," Krug said. "Obviously at some point, you do have to commit to fixing it. I have a date now for the surgery. Before I was just kind of holding out hope and trying to be as honest as possible with the Blues. I've got to get a couple screws in there to fuse a couple bones together. It's a sub-talar fusion, which is a pretty big surgery and process, especially for a 33-year-old man. A lot of people that get this procedure done are a lot older than I am. It's going to be a tough one for sure, but we'll see how it all shakes out."

After attempting the past 6-8 weeks to try and rehab the injury through non-surgical procedures, nothing seemed to work and surgery will take place in the "next couple weeks."

"Trying different things, for awhile, riding the bike was something I could get away with and keep my conditioning level up," Krug said. "I wasn't able to do much dynamic stuff in the gym. Just tried to skate more, obviously give it some time to rest and maybe be off it for awhile would help, and it did for sure but almost immediately when you try and come back in the gym and put the skates on, it was one of those things where I realized it wasn't going to work. We had to make plans otherwise."

Krug said the initial injury occurred while playing for the Boston Bruins in the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

"I got kind of full-speed shoved from behind going into the boards and I lost my footing, fractured a few bones," Krug said. "... Over the last few years, it's starting to get worse and worse. I've been able to manage it for so long now. Last year was definitely tough trying to manage the pain level. This summer, I wasn't really able to do the things I needed to do to prepare for the NHL season, a lot of pain and stuff. (Blues general manager) Doug (Armstrong's) been great, (head athletic trainer) Ray Barile's been great for me. I've spent a lot of time on the phone with those guys. Obviously tried to work through it and find a way to train so that I could prepare for the season. We're here now because I couldn't and I'm going to have to go in there and get it fixed. Long process for sure, drawn out, very stressful summer. Definitely one of the hardest things I've been through. Here we are today."

Krug said he came to the realization that the procedure would be something that would have to get done not just for his immediate future but for the long-term future of his health, having a wife and three kids.

"I'm going to feel better as a person," Krug said. "I'm going to be able to carry my kids up and down the stairs, which I'm able to do on some days but waking up, it's tough.

"... It's something I was going to have to do regardless at some point in my life. Getting it taken care of as a 33-year-old professional athlete is a little bit different than ... I thought I would have to do it when I was 50 down the road and retired. I always knew it was one of those things that would have to be done. It's just disappointing and sad that it has to be now."

The Blues have to move forward without a defenseman that was in their top four, and have alleviated the void by signing Ryan Suter and Pierre-Olivier Joseph, and Philip Broberg to an offer sheet that the Edmonton Oilers did not match.

"Obviously they had to do what they had to do signing guys and filling a spot on the 'D'-corps," Krug said of the Blues. "Just trying to be up front with everybody, but I was always holding out hope to try and play."