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Bruins Top 25 Under 25: #2 Torey Krug

By Cornelius Hardenbergh
What time is it? 47 past Luongo!
What time is it? 47 past Luongo!
Joel Auerbach

SB Nation 2014 NHL Preview

Player Change from 2013 Mike Sarah Cornelius Sean Servo Nolan Dan Giesse Kristian
Torey Krug +1 (3 in 2013) 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 2 3

  • Acquired: Undrafted Free Agent. Signed March 25, 2012.
  • Vitals: 5'9" (on skates!), 180 lbs
  • Experience: Regular Season: 82 GP, 14g, 28a, 42p. Playoffs: 27gp, 6g, 10a, 16p.

What we said last year

Dan Ryan wrote about Krug in the Top 25 Under 25 last year:

However, it'll be equally important for Krug to, as Claude Julien put it during the playoffs, "play his game" and be unafraid of making mistakes. Krug's value to the Bruins is in his willingness to try the long pass or skate around a forechecker instead of chipping the puck out. Mistakes will happen, and Krug shouldn't change his game to avoid them.

And play his game, he did. Torey Krug's first full season in the NHL was a success. 14 goals, 26 assists, and what turned out to be the league's third-best powerplay are all part of what Krug brings to the table. He's settled into a second pairing - no, really, he was third on the team in 5v5 defenseman time on ice - role in 5v5 play, and a big part (second only to David Krejci in 5v4 TOI) of the powerplay. He scored 6 goals in each situation over the 79 games in the regular seaso. What may be more impressive is that he tied perennial Norris contender (and too-often snub) Zdeno Chara with 40 points.

This year

After over 100 NHL games in both the regular season and the playoffs, Torey Krug is not really a prospect anymore. Which is why you won't see him on prospect lists. However, this isn't the Top Prospects list. It's the Top 25 under 25 and we're into the roster players. As an aside, I don't know if Pensburgh or Japer's Rink has been doing these for 10 years, but imagine having Ovechkin or Crosby at #1 on one of these lists for 6 or 7 years. Back to the topic at hand, Torey Krug has worked his way into third-pairing D and powerplay specialist with the Bruins. He'll continue to bounce his way around the pairings as needed, and log a ton of powerplay time.

Social Media Minute

So, what do y'all think? Have we tremendously overvalued Krug?