When Ryan Suter announced at media day for the NHL Allstar game in Ottawa that he would not be signing an extension with the Predators until after the season because he felt contract talks were a “distraction” the sports media went crazy. People started making claims that Suter and Weber, both having made similar statements, were done in absolutely done in Nashville. Others said Suter wants to see how David Poile and the Predators handled the trade deadline this year.
While some Preds fans all over immediately hit the panic button, there is really no need. This move by Suter is not his way of saying he wants out as a lot of people think. Suter merely wants to focus on hockey, as does Weber. The Predators have assembled most likely the best team in franchise history so far, and Suter and Weber do not want the team and themselves to be distracted by talk of who will and will not return. Both players, as well as the owners and fans, want to return to Nashville. Now that being said there have been rumors of Suter being shopped around to different teams, these claims are unsupported and frankly most likely not true. The Predators have done business with the Flyers several times in the past, but as well as Nashville played heading into the Allstar break, Philly is not going to want to part with what they would have too to get Suter as a rental for the last part of the season. So Predators fans do not worry there does not appear to be any support to claims that Suter is on the market. Suter also appears to be happy in Nashville and wanting to stay as long as the team continues to move towards becoming a strong contender.
With the number of trade rumors flying around these days it would not be surprising to see the Predators make a move at the deadline. Rumors that have been flying around have included names from Parise to Hemsky, to Ruutuu to Blake. While those first two names have any Preds fan salivating at the thought of those in a Preds sweater, lets be realistic. Nashville will more than likely make a trade at the deadline looking to bolster their offensive fire power but its more likely to be Ruutuu or Blake. These guys are similar to Mike Fisher, who was picked up last year at the deadline, in a sense that they can be very productive and can play many different roles, but do not have the big name status. These players seem to fit into the Predators style of play a little better. Plus lets be honest wouldn’t it be fun to see a lineup that had Ruttu and Tootoo
- Isaac Berky.
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