It’s not often that an undrafted free agent finds his way onto a Stanley Cup Final roster, but last season that was the case for the 22-year old Torey Krug. The Bruins signed Krug in 2012 after he completed his senior year at Michigan State where he was the teams’ Captain.

Krug played in two games for the Bruins that season where he registered just one assist. After spending the majority of the lockout-shortened 2013 season in Providence playing with the Bruins’ AHL affiliate, Krug got the call-up to the Bruins just prior to the start of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal matchup with the New York Rangers.

Playing in his first career playoff game, Krug scored his first career NHL goal, a big one for the Bruins as it tied Game 1 at two, a game that the Bruins would eventually win in overtime. It was the perfect start for Krug and the Bruins who would go on to win the series against the Rangers in five games.

“It was amazing” said Krug after the win.

“I’ve said before that my main goal is to come in here and try to help the team win, and I was fortunate enough to do that.”

Krug did a great job helping the Bruins win throughout the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs as they came within two wins of capturing their second Stanley Cup in three seasons. Krug finished the 2013 playoffs with four goals and two assists in 15 games.

As the calendar flipped to September and NHL training camps began around North America, one big question surrounded the Bruins. With just two spots open on the Bruins blue line, and three young defensemen battling for those spots, Bruins fans wondered who the odd man out would be.

We got out answer last week victory as it was Dougie Hamilton and Krug in the lineup when the Bruins opened the season against the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 3-1 victory.

The Bruins followed their season opening win with an impressive 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings, a game that saw Krug score his first career NHL regular season goal. The goal was great because it was against his hometown team in the Detroit Red Wings, but it also showed Bruins management that Krug was ready to pick up right where he left off a season ago.

“Yeah it’s pretty cool. Watching them have all of this success that they have growing up and it’s just pretty cool watching them and I watch all of these guys that are still on the team watching them and Jimmy Howard and all these guys so it’s pretty cool scoring a goal against him” added Krug.

 

A big reason as to why Krug is in the lineup over the likes of Matt Bartkowski is because of what he brings to the table to the power play. Krug’s skill and speed is something that has helped the Bruins power play get off to a good start thus far with two goals in two games.

 

Krug’s ability to run the power play from the point has given Bruins’ head coach Claude Julien some flexibility on where he positions his players on power play. Thanks to Krug’s skill, Julien now has Bruins Captain Zdeno Chara playing down low to use his 6’9” frame to screen the goalie, something that worked well on Krug’s power play tally against Detroit.

 

“It’s a big part of it” said Julien. “You heard me mention before, Zdeno [Chara] was on the point because we felt we didn’t have a ton of other options, but now we do. And you’ve added a [Dougie] Hamilton to your group, you’ve added a [Torey] Krug and the mobility has increased back there. So that allows us to move him into a position that we thought he’d be better suited for us.”

 

Krug is not your normal sized NHL defensemen as he comes in at 5’9” and 181 pounds, but his hockey sense and skillset is what helps him get by. If Krug can continue to chip in offensively, especially on the power play, and continue to not be a defensive liability, things will continue to be fun in The Hub of Hockey.