The NHL is a place where opportunities can open up as fast as they close.

News Tuesday about St. Louis Blues defenseman Torey Krug’s injury – which will keep him out of the lineup for the entire 2024-25 season – is a development that could mean an even bigger role for new Blues D-man Philip Broberg.

Broberg has been a Blue for only two weeks after the Edmonton Oilers chose not to match the offer sheet given to him by St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong. But with the news about Krug, Broberg rises up the lineup. He is now at least the Blues’ second-pair left-shot defenseman – before the season is through, he could be the top left-shot blueliner, ahead of 33-year-old veteran Nick Leddy.

For a player who spent much of last season in the AHL, Broberg now is crucial to the Blues’ playoff aspirations. He’s being paid like a veteran NHLer – carrying an average annual salary of $4.58 million – and Broberg now has to deliver quality minutes for St. Louis.

If he had returned to the Oilers, Broberg likely would’ve been Edmonton’s third-pair defenseman. But he’s now going to be dealing with considerable pressure to be a difference-maker for the Blues. Armstrong clearly understood his team was in need of depth when he offer-sheeted the 23-year-old, and he believes Broberg, who has just 81 games of regular-season NHL experience to his credit, can do the job they need him to do. And if he can’t do that, Broberg is only signed through the 2025-26 season, so the experiment could be a relatively brief one.

Broberg undoubtedly has his own set of standards for himself, but he’s stepped into a high-stakes scenario with the Blues. The future is now in St. Louis, and Broberg is under the gun to prove he’s worth the effort from Armstrong to bring him to town.