NHL Free Agency: The 3 best landing spots for Ryan Suter

2. New York Islanders

It is expected that New York Islanders General Manager Lou Lamoriello will make a hard run at forward Zach Parise on Wednesday, a player the three-time Stanley Cup winner drafted and then developed while with the New Jersey Devils in 2003.

But there is also a general consensus that Lamoriello could look to bring Ryan Suter to Long Island too as part of a package deal with his former Minnesota teammate, and it does make a lot of sense.

After all, Suter just screams a typical Lou Lamoriello-type player in that he plays the game the right way, he has a wealth of experience under his belt, he’s incredibly respected in the hockey world and he’s still a dominant top-four defenseman.

It is no secret that the Islanders, under both Lamoriello and Head Coach Barry Trotz, play a defense-first brand of hockey and Suter would be a good fit in that culture in that he’s a team-first player, he’s a big-bodied defenseman who will protect the goalie and make big plays in his own zone and he can also play in all situations.

He averaged 22:11 minutes of total ice time in 2020-21 for the Wild, so that’s another big plus, he’s a shot-blocking machine, he can lay the body on and he averaged 2:00 of short-handed time last season, so he could slot in on the top penalty killing unit for the Isles.

The other huge plus side to Suter is that he’s also very good offensively having recorded 19 points (3 G, 16 A) in 56 games last year, with five of his assists coming on the man advantage so he could man the second power play unit for New York.

Suter would form a deadly one-two punch behind Adam Pelech on the left side of the Islanders’ top-four pairing, he has a relationship with Trotz having played under the Isles Head Coach in Nashville and New York is projected to have around $17 million in cap space to play with, per CapFriendly, so there is scope there for a deal to be done between the two parties.