Wednesday's announcement that St. Louis Blues defenseman Torey Krug would miss the entire 2024-25 season to undergo corrective ankle surgery answered a couple of major questions while raising a different question.

First, it explains why the 33-year-old offensive defenseman has not been quite as effective or looked as dynamic and mobile over the last couple years. Krug said that an ankle injury he suffered while still with the Bruins and gotten progressively worse over time due to progressive pre-arthritis. It's become harder and harder to manage around it. As a result, he finally ceded to surgery.

Secondly, Krug's need for surgery adds some context to the two offer sheets (especially Philip Broberg) that the Blues successfully issued recently. Krug's $6.5 million cap hit salary can be used toward cap relief via LTIR if needed.The Blues currently have a modest $467,793 of free space.

Now for the question mark: Is there a ripple effect to Krug's long-term absence in terms of the Blues looking for more offensive depth on their blueline? Last year was a very rough one for Krug from an overall game perspective but his 39 points still led the St. Louis blueline by some nine points.

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