Don Sweeney and Torey Krug both admit there are tough choices ahead.

The subject of Torey Krug's future in Boston has been constantly discussed over the last two seasons due both in part to trade rumors surrounding the offensively gifted defenseman as well as due to his contract status as a pending unrestricted free agent. It was always going to be a tough fit for the Bruins to get Krug re-signed, but both sides seemed committed to finding a way to do so.

That may have all changed however due to the unexpected pause in this current National Hockey League season, a pause that has resulted in a stagnant salary cap for at least both of the next two seasons. Earlier in the season deputy commissioner Bill Daly had suggested that the cap could rise above $88 million for 2020 - 2021 regular season, but with the cap stuck at $81.5 million teams like the Boston Bruins will have some very tough choices to make. Bruins general manager Don Sweeney acknowledged as much on Monday during the Bruins first day of training camp.

"We’ve had to run simulations and still [get to a place] where we’re treating every player fairly from a compensation standpoint," said Sweeney as per NBC Sports. "But we have some decisions to make and we may have to make some hard decisions just like every other team in the league now that we have the parameters of the cap and how the mechanisms of the new CBA are going to work."

That is a pretty telling statement from the Bruins general manager and although it may not be a popular one it is a reality that fans across the league are going to have to face. It was one thing to hear Sweeney make a generic comment like this where he doesn't name names, but it was another matter entirely to learn that Krug himself now acknowledges the fact that he may not be a Bruin for much longer. According to a report from Bruins insider Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe, Krug admitted that he probably has to prepare himself for free agency at the end of this season.

It may very well be that Krug is playing out his final days as a Bruin.