ST. LOUIS — Ryan Suter has been down this road before, quite familiar with returning to former stomping grounds.
He did it playing for the Minnesota Wild when he returned to face the Nashville Predators in 2012; he did it with the Dallas Stars returning to face the Wild in 2021. And now he’ll do it again facing the Stars on Saturday as a member of the St. Louis Blues.
So forgive the 39-year-old if he doesn’t get all teary-eyed.
“I’ve done it before with other teams,” Suter said. “I’ll be hard. Obviously I have a lot of really close friends on that team, a lot of really good guys. It’ll be hard, but that’s what we do.”
Perhaps not as hard this time around since there was a bit of a divorce from a team perspective.
For the second time in his career, Suter’s contract was bought out, and he’s the only NHL player ever to be bought out twice.
On June 28, the Stars bought out the final year of Suter’s four-year, $14.6 million contract. Per the terms of the buyout, two-thirds of his salary are spread out over the next two seasons with a salary cap hit of $783,334 this season and $1,433,334 next season.
This, on top of Suter’s first buyout by the Minnesota Wild, which was a whopper that the Wild are still paying on.
Suter and forward Zach Parise each had the final four years of his contract bought out by Minnesota on July 13, 2021. Each signed a 13-year, $98 million contract ($7.54 million average annual value) on July 4, 2012. Suter will get $833,333 through the 2028-29 season from the Wild.
So one can understand even at the tail end of his career, Suter can sign for the league minimum with the Blues at $775,000 plus another $2.25 million in performance bonuses.
He’s thriving quite nicely after initially being touted as a bottom pair guy that’s turned into a revelation playing with Colton Parayko on the top pair as well as with Justin Faulk with Nick Leddy shelved with a lower-body injury since Oct. 15.
Suter has a goal and six assists in 30 games but with his experience and solid play, he’s averaging 22:43, which is his highest minutes played in the past three seasons.
So while Suter will obviously be motivated to go in and prove a point to another team that bought him out, he didn’t want to make it about himself.
“Obviously excited for our team to go in there,” Suter said. “They’ve got a really good team and for us to go up against them, it’ll be a really tough challenge, but I think our team can rise to it.”
As for center Radek Faksa, it might be a little different story, as long as the 30-year-old can play.
Faksa missed his first game of the season Thursday, a 4-3 home loss against the San Jose Sharks due to a lower-body injury, a skate cut near his groin area, sustained late in the third period of a 4-3 overtime win at the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.
Faksa spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Stars, who drafted the forward with the 13th pick of the 2012 NHL Draft before being traded to St. Louis on July 2 for future considerations, a trade that was mutual.
“It was my second home,” Faksa said of Dallas during training camp. “I’ve been there almost half of my life. It’s hard to leave, but I’m here to play hockey and do what’s best for my future.”
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