If the Nashville Predators don't sign him before July 1, defenseman Ryan Suter is going to be one of the most attractive players on the free agent market. There will be no shortage of teams interested in his services, and it appears that Suter has already narrowed down his choices. At least as far as the conference is concerned.
According to a report from Tim Panaccio of CSN Philadelphia, Suter is not interested in playing for the Philadelphia Flyers next season, and his list of preferred destinations at this point is limited entirely to Western Conference teams.
From Panaccio:
According to a well-placed source, Suter has a potential list of clubs he would be willing to talk to even if his rights were traded before July 1. Suter is represented by Neil Sheehy.Whether or not Detroit is his top choice the Red Wings are the one team that always seems to come up when discussing or speculating on his future. They certainly make a great deal of sense, if for no other reason than the fact they've lost three of their top defenseman over the past two years (Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski to retirement; Brad Stuart's free agent rights were recently traded back to San Jose) and have a need for a new top-pairing blue-liner.
Alas, the Flyers are not one of them.
In fact, the source said, all of Suter’s preferred destinations, should he leave the Predators, are in the Western Conference – not the East.
Detroit is generally conceded to be his top choice.
They also have a ton of salary cap space to work with this summer, and the kind that would be required to not only land a top defenseman like Suter, but perhaps (if they wanted to) another top free agent along with him. If you're going to lose a player like Lidstrom to retirement over the summer, you could certaily do worse than a guy like Suter to slide into that top spot.
The other interesting development is that general manager David Poile has, at this point, reportedly refused to discuss the possibility of trading Suter's rights. If history is any indication, he will probably change his position on that if it gets to the point where he feels Suter won't re-sign in Nashville. In recent years the Predators have traded the free agent rights of several players they were set to lose for nothing, including forward Scott Hartnell and defensemen Kimmo Timonen and Dan Hamhuis.
Suter, the Predators first-round pick back in 2003 (No. 7 overall), has spent his entire career to this point playing in Nashville.
For more hockey news, rumors and analysis, follow @EyeOnHockey and @agretz on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
