Ryan Suter Bought Out by Stars
The Dallas Stars are buying out the final year of veteran defenseman Ryan Suter’s contract, saving the team valuable salary cap space. Suter, 39, had one year remaining on his deal at a $3.65 million cap hit. By parting ways with Suter, the Stars will gain $1.4 million in cap space for each of the next two seasons. This flexibility allows Dallas to focus on necessary re-signings and potential free agent acquisitions.
One key player the Stars will likely prioritize retaining is defenseman Chris Tanev. After a standout postseason performance, Tanev has emerged as a hot commodity on the upcoming free agent market. The Stars will surely do everything in their power to keep Tanev from hitting unrestricted free agency and potentially signing elsewhere.
Suter, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, scored 12 goals and 74 points in 246 games over three seasons with the Stars. The team reached the Western Conference Finals in each of the past two campaigns. However, at 39 years old, Suter’s buyout frees up roster and cap space for Dallas to continue building a contender.
After the Minnesota Wild bought out the final four years of Ryan Suter’s contract in July 2021, Dallas Stars GM Jim Nill quickly targeted Suter as a free agent signing. Just 15 days after the buyout, Suter inked a four-year, $14.6 million deal with the Stars.
Suter’s former Wild teammate Zach Parise also had his contract bought out by Minnesota at the same time. Parise went on to play a partial season with the Colorado Avalanche before announcing his retirement from the NHL, effective after the Stars eliminated the Avs in the second round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
At 39 years old, Suter will become only the second player in NHL history to have his contract bought out twice, joining Tony DeAngelo as the other. Despite the buyout, Suter has continued to play at a high level, helping the Stars reach the Western Conference Finals in each of the past two seasons.
The 39-year-old Ryan Suter was a stalwart on the backend for the Dallas Stars over the past three seasons. He initially paired with top defender Miro Heiskanen for a majority of minutes before taking more of a depth role this season. Suter led the second unit of the power play for a period and logged heavy minutes, especially through the 2023 Western Conference Final against Vegas.
This past season, Suter paired with various defensemen, most notably Nils Lundkvist during the young blueliner’s best stretch with the Stars. As the playoffs approached, head coach Pete DeBoer began rotating Suter in with the top four defensemen, leaving Lundkvist as the odd man out for all but a few shifts per game.
This continued through the first two playoff rounds, until Alexander Petrovic became Suter’s new partner for the remainder of the postseason. In Suter’s final game with the Stars, Game 6 against Edmonton, he and Petrovic were benched for the final 25 minutes, with Suter finishing with only 6:16 of ice time. While Suter was playing well and contributing both offensively and defensively earlier in the playoffs, he seemed to lose a step as the Western Conference Final progressed, eventually losing the trust of DeBoer in an elimination game.
Suter’s tenure in Dallas was sometimes questioned by fans, but the front office and team consistently expressed confidence in the aging defenseman. Veteran forward Joe Pavelski, a close friend of Suter’s, also decided to retire after noticeably declining this past season at age 40. With Suter set to turn 40 next year, the Stars decided a buyout was the best path forward, allowing them to move on and address their roster needs. The Stars now turn their attention to the upcoming NHL Draft and free agency, as they look to build on their back-to-back Western Conference Final appearances.
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