Nashville Predators' Ryan Suter to test free agency following deadline -NHL Update
In a surprising move, the Nashville Predators will be allowing defenseman, Ryan Suter, to test the unrestricted free agency after the July 1, 2012, deadline coming up, which is deemed to be a lose-lose situation for the Western Conference team by various
circles around the National Hockey League (NHL).
Detroit Red Wings have also been termed as the top team going after Suter because in him, they envision a possible replacement to retired superstar defenseman, Nicklas Lidstrom, and will be pushing their limits in order to acquire the 27-year-old.
Many other teams are definitely after the player as well following Nashville Predators’ general manager’s statement.
"Unless something changes in the near future, he's going to take a peek at July 1," Predators’ General Manager, David Poile, told the Tennessean newspaper on Friday, June 15. "We're going to be in consistent contact with him, and I'm certainly hoping, as
he said to me a week ago, that he's not going to make a sudden decision … and we're going to have some conversations after he has talked to these different teams."
The defenseman’s four-year, $14 million contract will be coming to an end at the start of July, which will make the unrestricted free agency even more exciting now that he has announced his plans on making an entry.
According to general manager David Poile, Suter has never expressed the desire to the team to trade his negotiating rights or ever shown that he wanted to leave the team during the previous 2011-2012 NHL regular season.
Suter, a native of Madison, Wisconsin, was picked up by Nashville Predators as the seventh overall player during round-one of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft and have played with his original draft team for seven straight seasons now.
In 543 career games, the defender holds 238 points (38 goals, 200 assists) along with 396 minutes in the penalty box.
There has been no confirmation from Suter’s side as of yet on where he plans on going for the upcoming NHL regular season, but only time will tell where fans could be seeing one of the league’s top defensemen.
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