There is no one in the rest of the UFA defenseman class besides Pietrangelo that seems worth going out of our way to sign, Krug included. You're basically going to have to explore the trade market, which might actually produce some fruit worth having sometime in the near future if you have the ability to take on significant cap. With Krug's signing, the Blues just lost a lot of their potential leverage in that area.
Losing Pietrangelo pretty much drives a nail in the Blues chances of being a legitimate contender this year barring some miracle or other. Adding Krug as a replacement doesn't really change that. I'll be shocked if a top 4 of Parayko/Krug/Faulk/Scandella comes even close to being good enough to threaten for a Cup, so I think you still need that miracle even after adding Krug. There's just one less potential avenue for making that miracle a reality.
I'm honestly surprised that so many people are ok with this, or even happy about it. I think if we were talking more about the specifics of Krug's deal and how he fits on the team, the reception might be more muted...but right now the mindset seems to be squarely on the "something is better than nothing" train of thought. I just don't see it that way at all.
What’s interesting to me is that, it’s not like Krug is really much of an adequate defender and Pietrangelo is a significantly better offensive play driver at 5 on 5.
Krug started 70% of his shifts in the o-zone last year, yet still has relatively underwhelming 5 on 5 offense (and tbh, he always has).
People might wonder why the Bruins had no interest in retaining him, it’s because he has all the makings of a player that will fall off a cliff, just like Faulk. These players rely a lot on physical tools, not necessarily on high IQ. Krug especially, given he ‘plays bigger than his size’ which really, really ages poorly.
With Pietrangelo, you deploy him on the offensive side of the puck at 5 on 5, because he’s incredible at it and Parayko is in turn your main shutdown defender. And Pietrangelo was good enough in his own zone and in transition to carry a mediocre defender alongside of him. The Blues never needed to invest money into a LHD to play with Petro because he didn’t need a good partner to dominate.
Now, your left with Faulk, who has been inadequate at 5 on 5 his entire career, while being heavily reliant on a system revolved around him to produce. As any smart person could have anticipated, his play fell when the system didn’t revolve around feeding him one timers on the PP (and subsequently putting up a relatively underwhelming 30-35 points when you look at his deployment comparable’s). And Krug, who also only adds significant value on the PP. But you aren’t on the PP all game and when your not, Krug is hardly above replacement level. This is all while receiving favorable zone starts and having Carlo to mitigate his defensive deficiencies.
If the Blues utilize Parayko in the way Boston did with Carlo, it won’t work. They had McAvoy/Chara to deploy as a shutdown pairing. Who is there to stop the other teams top units for us, Scandella? Scandella has been sub replacement almost his entire career, and brings hardly any value. His defensive game isn’t elite, he’s horrible in transition. So pairing him with Faulk is a recipe for disaster, because you don’t have a defender that’s good enough at creating zone exits to keep them from getting caved in all game. The reason Scandella and Parayko worked is because Parayko is extremely good at zone exits, and obviously at defending.
Playing Krug and Faulk together is also just not going to end well. Their defensive value will most certainly be negative and neither are that great at play driving 5 on 5 offense.
Also, this pretty much ensures Dunn is gone. Which, when Krug and Faulk are both albatrosses in two years (Faulk was the moment it was signed), I promise you they’ll wish they had Dunn. I’m a big Dunn fan. His defensive metrics are very good and his offensive play driving is fantastic. A few rough playoff games doesn’t mitigate what he’s done for 3 seasons.
All in all, it’s flustering because Petro should’ve been priority #1 from July 1st 2019 and for some stupid reason he wasn’t. Instead, DA signed a number of guys into their late 30s who aren’t nearly of the caliber and now the Blues are significantly worse both in the short and long term outlook.
