Torey Krug is out for the Season for the St. Louis Blues
By Kyle Graden
Entering the 24-25 season, the St. Louis Blues will likely rely heavily on their veteran blue line. This should be short lived however as Torey Krug is now officially out for the season. Colton Parayko, Nick Leddy, Justin Faulk, and newly signed Ryan Suter are all well into their thirties at this point, so will the Blues start to pivot towards a younger defensive core?
There have been many rumors over the past two seasons about potentially moving a few of the higher paid defenseman, namely Torey Krug (again, out for the season) and Colton Parayko. Still at this point that may not be a wise move if the Blues are looking to return to the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Blues' prospect core now looks stocked with young viable NHL talent that while they look like future mainstays, are still a season or two away from truly contributing at a high level in the NHL. Michael Buchinger, Adam Jiricek, Theo Lindstein, Hunter Skinner, Quinton Burns, Philip Broberg, Leo Loof, Colin Ralph, and Lukas Fischer are all 23 years old or younger and looking to be apart of the next wave of St. Louis blue liners. In the interim it looks like (in lieu of the Torey Krug injury) Scott Perunovich, Tyler Tucker, and Matthew Kessel will all get their best chances at sticking as full time NHL defenders. If those three all play the entire season inside the top seven to eight options that could leave a defensive core for 2024-2025 that looks like this:
LD: Nick Leddy, Scott Perunovich, Tyler Tucker, Philip Broberg, Ryan Suter
RD: Justin Faulk, Colton Parayko, Matthew Kessel
Anyway you look at it, this season should see a changing of the guard in terms of who will fit into the long term plans of the Blues at the blue line. Will a veteran be moved? Will the investment in Philip Broberg pay off? Will any of the three players in their mid twenties (Tucker, Kessel, or Perunovich) step up? Perhaps one of the players that are not highly regarded at the moment makes a big leap forward even. If the Blues are going to make the playoffs this season though, it will be because the top three pairings were consistent and played above expectations. More on the pairings later today!
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