Even as Don Sweeney continues his search for a top pairing defenseman, the Bruins GM needed to take care of some in-house items before the start of free agency Friday at noon. In addition to buying out the last two years of Dennis Seidenberg’s contract, Sweeney checked off another item on his to-do list when he signed Torey Krug on Thursday.

As first reported by former Bruin and TSN analyst Aaron Ward, the Bruins and Krug agreed to a 4-year contract extension worth $21 million. The new deal translates into a $5.25 million cap hit through the 2019-20 season.

Boston Bruins and Torey Krug agreeing to a 4 year/ $5.25M AAV deal. #confirmed

— Aaron Ward (@NHL_AaronWard) June 30, 2016

After coming to Boston as an undrafted free agent in March of 2012, Krug burst onto the scene during the Bruins’ run to the Stanley Cup Final in the spring of 2013. The former Michigan State Spartan debuted in the B’s Eastern Conference Semifinal series against the Rangers where he scored four times in their five-game series.

Krug hasn’t looked back since. The 5-foot-9 blue-liner has been a staple on the Bruins power play and over time has gained the trust of Claude Julien and the Bruins coaching staff as they’ve inserted him in the lineup during crucial situations.

Over his last three full regular seasons, Krug has appeared in 238 career regular season games, tallying 30 goals and 93 assists in that span.

Despite tallying a career-low four goals last year, Krug still led the Bruins defense in scoring with 44 points and his average time on ice per game (21:36) was second only to Zdeno Chara’s (24:05). His 40 assists were also good for ninth among all NHL defenseman.

Krug is scheduled to talk to the Bruins media at 5:15 via conference call. We will provide updates of that conference call here on Bruins Daily. Stay tuned.