What was already poised to be a critical offseason for a Bruins team looking to capitalize on its dwindling contention window suddenly got much more interesting on Tuesday afternoon, as the buyout market gifted the B’s and the rest of the NHL with a couple of other big fish in the free-agency pool.
Facing a roster crunch with the Seattle Kraken expansion draft looming, Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin opted to buy out both defenseman Ryan Suter and forward Zach Parise, parting ways with a pair of key cogs that both signed 13-year deals with Minnesota back on July 4, 2012.
And while the Wild will now have to pay both Suter and Parise $6.7 million over the next eight years and be tabbed with $2.371 million, $6.371 million, $7.371 million and $7.371 million cap hits in the next four years — the other 31 teams in the NHL have to be licking their chops at the prospect of signing one of Suter/Parise at much more affordable deals on the open market.
Both skaters may not be spring chickens at 36 years old, but Suter and Parise should both serve as appealing options on a free-agent market, especially for teams with holes to fill both on the blue line and in the bottom-six forward corps.
Sounds like any team you know?
While Parise could be a potential option for a Bruins team looking to inject more scoring punch further down on the depth chart, there are countless other alternatives that the Bruins could target this offseason that are a better bet when it comes to elevating the B’s middle-six — be it other free-agent pickups like a Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow or Kyle Palmieri, or trade targets like a Conor Garland or Rickard Rakell.
But Suter is another story.
While Boston is in desperate need of a legitimate top-four option on the left side of its defense, this free-agent market doesn’t offer a surefire solution, with names like Jamie Oleksiak or Jake McCabe either serving as pricy additions or functioning more as third-pairing options that could play higher up when needed.
Boston’s top target in a perfect scenario would likely be a bonafide top-pairing blueliner like a Mattias Ekholm – but it remains to be seen if Nashville even deals the veteran this summer, and the cost to pry him from the Preds would remain high.
But with Suter now a UFA, the Bruins have been granted a prime opportunity to bring aboard a proven, veteran stalwart at a likely fair deal — without having to sacrifice trade assets in the process.
While there is obvious concern about Suter’s age and just what kind of player he is at this stage of his career, the numbers still point to a guy who, at the minimum, is still a very effective top-four option on a good team.
Boston’s D corps could sure use depth and size throughout its three pairs, but what it’s lacking in the top-four is a minutes-eating regular that can also inject some scoring from the blue line. In that regard, Suter checks off plenty of boxes.
This past season, Suter averaged 22:11 of ice time with Minnesota — a step down from his usual workhorse career average of 25:02, but a total that would still rank second among Bruins skaters this season — and posted 19 points over 56 games.
That playmaking ability, especially at even-strength play, would be a welcome addition to a Bruins team that could desperately use a body on the blue line that’s capable of peppering in shots from the point.
RYAN SUTER ties the game!#mnwild pic.twitter.com/AebzDAhycC
— State of Hockey News (@MNWildSOHNews) March 23, 2021
Among NHL defensemen, Suter ranks in the 93rd percentile when it comes to even-strength offense — with the shortened 2021 season standing as the first time since 2014-15 in which the veteran failed to eclipse the 40-point mark.
Of course, the concern with Suter might be on the defensive side of things — given that his even-strength defense ranked in the 29th percentile among NHL blueliners. But pairing him next to either a shutdown option or a bonafide franchise defenseman should mitigate some of those risks — something that the Wild routinely did in recent years that led to not much in terms of a drop-off when Suter was on the ice for them.
While he might fit more in as a second-pairing option with a guy like Brandon Carlo, it sure isn’t out of the realm of possibility that Suter could serve as a very effective partner next to Charlie McAvoy in Boston — especially given that most of McAvoy’s partners regularly have their flaws negated when skating next to the B’s No. 1 defenseman.
(Not much in terms of a drop-off when Suter was out on the ice for Minnesota this past season, with the Wild's expected goals against per 60 minutes only rising from 2.17 to 2.18 when he was out on a shift).
And of course, another factor that plays heavily into Boston’s potential courtship of Suter is the contract — with the veteran likely in line for a more reasonable deal than the 13-year, $98-million contract he inked over nine years ago.
If Boston was able to sign Suter to a deal around, say, $3-3.5 million in AAV, not only would it give them a much-needed regular in the top-four unit, but it also gives Boston more cap flexibility to also add another defenseman further down on the depth chart like a McCabe or Jani Hakanpää — while the assets that would have likely parted with to acquire an Ekholm could also be used to acquire more scoring depth like a Garland.
Sure, there’s some risk with Suter given his age, but he’s been pretty steady in terms of his health (12 games missed due to injury in last 10 years) — and fits in with this current win-now window that the Bruins have found themselves in.
Sure, there’s a very realistic chance that Suter’s game slips in 2022-23 and beyond, but barring a drastic drop-off, Suter is still very much a legit top-four stalwart in 2021-22 — and could be exactly what this Bruins team needs on a D corps in need of a facelift.
Stats and graphs via Natural Stat Trick, HockeyViz and JFreshHockey.