Suter Watch: Extension Talks Over?

On June 1st, Josh Cooper of the Tennessean reported that Nashville GM David Poille went out to Wisconsin and met with Ryan Suter on starting talks for a contract extension. The talks reportedly went well, and there was optimism that the Preds were going to be able to get a deal done to keep Suter in town.

Now two weeks later, Cooper wrote in his blog that there has been very little happening with Suter since those talks. He raises the question where the talks are today, and that Suter could very well just test the free agent market since he has come this far without getting a deal done. 

Also in Cooper's post, he mentioned that Nashville could trade Suter's rights to another team so they do not walk way empty handed in the event Suter does sign elsewhere this summer. This is something that Mike Russo has suggested the Wild would try and trade for the rights of Suter and Zach Parise if extension talks fail. The Wild have a lot of cap space, so if they were to acquire the rights of Suter there would be much optimism that a deal would be reached.

A decision on whether the Preds decide to trade the rights of Suter may come sooner rather than later due to the fact the Preds talks with other potential free agents appear to be held up until they get Suter's situation resolved, as Cooper points out in his post today. 

So if Ryan Suter doesn't have an extension in place by the draft, look for his rights to possibly be traded shortly after.


Here is the link to my first post in the Suter Watch series: Is there a chance?