Krug, defense ready to start season

The 32-year-old had an assist and played 23-plus minutes in a 5-3 win against the Chicago Blackhawks Saturday and barring any setback, which doesn't appear to be likely, the left-handed d-man will be in the lineup when the Blues, who were 4-2-2 in preseason games, start the season Thursday at the Dallas Stars.

"There's still parts of my game that I have to clean up and be more efficient and effective, but I got in a lot of time, I was skating for a while," Krug said postgame. "Three games should get you up to speed. Once you get down to the group here, we'll all be ready to go."

Krug was to be reevaluated Oct. 1 but he was on the ice regularly even at the start of camp before practices began before joining the group not too long after. He made his preseason debut last Monday against Columbus, playing 24:49, then playing 18:57 at Dallas last Thursday and another 23:36 Saturday, finishing with four assists in three games.

"We wanted to get him in at least the last three games when he got back," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "He's doing what he does.

"I think Torey's played physical since he's come back. In our own zone, he's done a good job and his puck movement obviously on the power play and things like that. For me and for him too, it was good for him to get that third game and just getting more timing down and things like that missing quite a bit of camp."

It wouldn't surprise to see Krug play with a chip on his shoulder after the developments over the summer, in the days before the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville, developments Krug addressed when the Blues attempted to trade him to the Philadelphia Flyers in a package that ultimately led to just acquiring Kevin Hayes and not Travis Sanheim, who was also expected to be part of the return.

But Krug invoked his no-trade clause and keeps his place here and on a blue line that was much-maligned last season that led to missing the playoffs for the first time since 2018.

"To be hard on him for last year, I think there's a lot of guys -- myself included -- that didn't have good years," center Robert Thomas said. "That's just the way it is, but we've come in prepared and ready to go from Day 1. We've gotten better every single day. And you can tell in each game we've gotten better. It's a pretty exciting time to be in this room and a pretty exciting time for the season to start."

The Blues have been so focused on the fundamentals in their own zone and trying to eliminate what ailed them throughout much of last season. They want to get back to their staple of being hard to play against in their zone and not have as many mistakes.

But mainly, the focus has been smothering the slot and not putting a stake in the ground that it's open season for opposition scoring chances.

"Less Grade A's against," Krug said. "Last year, I felt like at times we were leaving really good ice in order to try and end a play and all of the sudden, they have a guy right in our slot by himself. Right now, we're staying in good ice, defending from the inside out and forcing them to go through multiple layers to get chances. I think it's been effective so far.

"It's something that we've talked about and we've noted. We knew it was an issue before and now it's about showing up and executing and I think from a defensive standpoint, our forwards have seemed committed so far."

Adding assistant coach Mike Weber, who comes to St. Louis from Rochester of the American Hockey League, the Buffalo Sabres affiliate, there's new schemes and executions that have been implemented that's noticeable.

"He's pretty enthusiastic," Krug said of Weber, who played for the Sabres and Washington Capitals in his NHL career. "Obviously the way that he played in the league, he kind of brings that same motivation and that same energy into how he's coaching. We kind of laugh every time he grabs a marker to draw up a drill. We know it's a battle drill. It's fun to be a part of that."

Not only fun but satisfying from a coaching perspective when the work is being put in.

"I like our work ethic out there, we're connected in the D-zone, we're doing a pretty good job of protecting the slot area and blocking shots and things like that," Berube said. "It's just a matter of making those decisions through the neutral zone, making good decisions with the puck. That's a big thing. I always said if you're a team that doesn't turn pucks over in the neutral zone, you're putting pucks in and you're going to work, you're not playing defense."