The roots of Ryan Suter’s one-year contract with the St. Louis Blues go back three years.
In 2021, immediately after the Minnesota Wild bought out the final four years of Suter’s 13-year, $98 million contract, Blues general manager Doug Armstrong got in touch with Neil Sheehy, Suter’s representative from I-C-E Hockey Agency.
“Doug was the first to call,” Sheehy told The Athletic on Thursday.
The Blues and Suter couldn’t come to a contract agreement at the time, with the defenseman, then 36, seeking a four-year deal and the Blues only willing to go three. He eventually got four years and $14.6 million ($3.65 million annual average value) from the Dallas Stars. But as it turned out, after three years, the Stars were ready to move on. In late June, they bought out Suter for the second time in his 19-year NHL career.
Suter took a couple of days after that to decide with his family — wife Becky and children Brooks, Avery, Easton and Beau — if the now 39-year-old free agent would continue playing.
“Talking to Ryan, it was first and foremost he wanted to keep playing, but he had to talk to his family about whether they were on board with it,” Sheehy said. “He had full support from them.”
So for the second time in three years, Sheehy and Armstrong were on the phone…
