Detroit Red Wings: Throwing it back to the summer of 2012

Besides Zach Parise, the Detroit Red Wings may have been smart to avoid adding Ryan Suter.

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Looking back, the Detroit Red Wings may have been more interested in Parise than anything, but Ryan Suter was a solid addition to any defense core at the time. Little did anyone know, his production was going to hit rock bottom post-pandemic.

Over his nine years in Minnesota, Suter logged 656 games where he had 55 goals and 314 assists for 369 total points.

The best performance he had with the Wild was in 2015-16 and 2017-18, where he would total 51 points in both seasons.

However, things have started rolling downhill, and the wheels are falling off. Suter finished the 2020-21 season with three goals and 16 assists for just 19 points over all 56 games played. This is quite a far cry from the 40+ point seasons he had in each of the prior five seasons.

Compared to Parise, Suter’s value has stayed true for the most part, but this past season was brutal. Things took a dive for Suter, who is now 36 years old and on the wrong side of 35. Things are not magically going to get better, that’s certain.

While the Red Wings may feel like they missed out on signing Parise and Suter, it may have been a blessing. Things did not work out the best for the Wild, who opted to go the extreme route and buyout both of the players they awarded 13-year deals in the summer of 2012.

The summer of 2012 may not have been filled with joy and excitement about signing Parise and Suter, but the 2021 summer can be filled with something else. This summer can be filled with gratefulness for not signing either of them.

That being said, everyone return to your regularly scheduled programming, which should be dreaming of the days when the Red Wings are hoisting the Stanley Cup once again after Steve Yzerman completes the team’s rebuild.

Trust the Yzerplan.