Bruins' Krug Ready To 'Compete And Work 100-Percent'
BOSTON (CBS) – With just two weeks left in the regular season, it would be an odd time to join the Boston Bruins.
But 20-year-old Torey Krug did just that on Tuesday, skating for the first time with his new team.
"It's awesome. The last few days have been a whirlwind, that's for sure," said Krug, a college free agent out of Michigan State who signed with the Bruins on Sunday. "A couple days ago I was sitting in my house in East Lansing getting ready for a test. Here I am sitting in a locker room full of NHLers. It's been a great past couple days and I'm looking forward to the next couple weeks."
Krug On Joining Bruins, Zdeno Chara
The defenseman, whose name is pronounced "Kroog," said a big part of signing on with Boston was the prospect of joining a winning organization. Although he is ineligible for postseason play this season, he watched the Bruins Stanley Cup run last summer and wanted to be a part of it.
But the question remains, is he NHL ready?
"I feel like [I am]. Obviously the coaches will make that decision, but I'm here," he said. "My number-one goal is to compete and work 100-percent, 100-percent of the time."
"I've heard a lot of good things about this player," head coach Claude Julien said. "I haven't had a chance to see him play but we can get a pretty good idea by watching him in practice. [Wednesday] he'll have a chance to get in a full practice with us and we'll see where we go from there. I'm certainly not going to tell you right now that he's not going to play. We may give him an opportunity. It depends on how everything goes, but the one thing that he gets a chance to do is experience the level of competition in the NHL."
Claude Julien On Krug
While his role with the team is to be determined, Krug is hoping to dip his toes in the NHL waters.
"Right now I'm just looking to get my feet wet; get a little bit of experience. At the same time I hope I can push the guys in practice and do whatever I can do to help the team win," said Krug, who sported the #47 sweater for Tuesday's morning skate.
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He admits that at 5-9 he is among the smaller defenseman in the league. That was pretty apparent when he stood next to the 6-9 Zdeno Chara, who Krug skated next to for the morning session.
"I don't know if they built these lockers for him; I can barely reach my helmet at the top. It's pretty funny," he joked in the locker room.
"He was one of the first guys I talked to when I got here. He was very welcoming," Krug said of Chara. "Just getting to know the X's and O's out there and feel each other out. It was good to be on the ice."
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