Krug focused on trying to be himself, not Pietrangelo, with Blues

Torey Krug has moved into Alex Pietrangelo's house.

The question remains if the defenseman can assume Pietrangelo's do-it-all role for the St. Louis Blues.
"One in, one out," Krug said with a smile as he discussed moving into the Pietrangelo home in suburban St. Louis, and of his attempt to replace the former Blues captain on the ice.
Krug agreed to a seven-year, $45.5 million contract ($6.5 million average annual value) with the Blues on Oct. 9. Pietrangelo signed a seven-year, $61.6 million contract ($8.8 million average annual value) with the Vegas Golden Knights on Oct. 12, ending a 12-season run in St. Louis.
Krug's one-in, one-out sentiment is an oversimplification of what he's adjusting to after playing his first nine NHL seasons with the Boston Bruins.
Though Krug, his wife, Melanie, and their 19-month-old daughter, Saylor, have settled into the rooms once occupied by the Pietrangelo family, the on-ice element he occupies is a bit more nuanced.
Each is a defenseman and a leader on and off the ice. Pietrangelo was the Blues captain the previous four seasons, while Krug was an important voice in the Bruins locker room.
Yet they are far from the same player. Krug says he is not a replacement for Pietrangelo, nor does he want to be considered as such.
"I just be myself," Krug said. "I think the players understand. They've played against me enough. And they've seen me, what I've done. My resume speaks for itself around the League, so they know who I am and what I am.
"To someone who doesn't know the game very much, they lose a big name, and, frankly, a great defenseman in Pietrangelo, and they see that they paid me a lot of money to come here to play. I just hope that comparison doesn't stick too long."
It likely will stick at least until the Blues play the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Jan. 26. Before that, the Blues play the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday (9 p.m. ET; FS-MW, NBCSCA, NHL.TV) and have games against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday and Sunday.
Krug always has been confident in who he is and what he can bring to a team. But he is emphatic that he not only is an offensive defenseman, but he's improved his all-around game. With the Blues, he's getting the chance to prove that.

He's playing on the top defense pair with Colton Parayko, and through three games has one assist while averaging 23:22 of ice time.
But Krug is being used in different ways than previous seasons. He's started 42.8 percent of his shifts in the offensive zone, down from 62.6 percent during his time with the Bruins, and he's averaging 1:34 of ice time per game shorthanded after averaging 19 seconds per game with Boston.
"He gets in there quick," Parayko said. "He's gritty and he's tough to play against. He's always in there with his stick. Just from talking to him, from reads, it's been great in the sense that … we do a lot of the same things in the D-zone. From that point, perspective, it's going to be great. We're going to excel in the D-zone and make good reads off each other and go from there."
Krug arrived in St. Louis in early December so that he could get the family settled and focus solely on his job, on integrating into a new team in the most difficult of circumstances, without the opportunities to bond that he might have had in a year that wasn't complicated by coronavirus protocols.
He also needed to manage things, inserting himself into a team that has a preexisting dynamic, a history that he is not a part of; or at least, one he experienced from the other side. The Blues defeated the Bruins in seven games to win the Stanley Cup in 2019.
Krug has tried to have conversations to speed up the process, but it's an adjustment. Krug said the similarities between Parayko and Brandon Carlo, his partner in Boston, have helped.
"I think they both skate really well, and you've got Krug, who's a real good puck mover, and then you've got Parayko, who defends as well as any defenseman in the National Hockey League, so I just think they'll kill a lot of plays with their feet," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "And obviously they can be dangerous the other way."
Krug is embracing the changes and said he believes he is equipped to handle new challenges.
"I was in a comfortable situation in Boston," Krug said. "I could do a practice blindfolded, to be completely honest. I could run the power play. I could coach the whole team on what every single player on the ice is supposed to do in that system. And that's different now for me, because I don't know."
Krug hopes gradually he will be seen as more than just a big contract replacing a big contract, more than just a replacement for the former occupant of his new house.
"We're different players," Krug said. "And I have so much respect for Alex. He's awesome. And he's earned every penny that he got in Vegas and the great situation he has there. So I'm just me. Sometimes rough around the edges, but I'm honest and I think people typically enjoy and like being around other honest people. So that's what they're going to get from me."