Detroit Red Wings: Gauging how newly signed forward Pius Suter fits in
By Tyler Kotila
The Detroit Red Wings have gone into free agency looking to iron out things in the teams’ core of forwards. They signed Swiss forward Pius Suter to a two-year, $6.5 million contract that reunites him with a former OHL teammate, Tyler Bertuzzi (hopefully he doesn’t get traded).
Suter is 25 years old and will join the Detroit Red Wings core group of forwards with hopes to inject some scoring into it. It seems like he may be able to do it, though a chunk of his scoring actually came against the Red Wings.
In the Red Wings contest against the Chicago Blackhawks on January 24th, Suter would pot three goals. Suter tapped into some scoring in 2020-21, his first year in the NHL, even receiving some Calder Trophy votes.
Suter’s breakout season must have intrigued Yzerman enough to tender him a two-year deal with hopes that he can continue to tap into scoring. His first season saw him log 55 games for the Blackhawks, where he scored 14 goals and added 13 assists for 27 total points.
The Detroit Red Wings invested in Pius Suter.
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The Red Wings are likely going to put Suter in a variety of roles. It should not be shocking to see Suter used in a variety of ways in his first year with the Red Wings organization.
A left-handed shooting forward, Suter is versatile and can be moved around and plugged in onto different lines.
A realistic expectation would be to see him mixed in on the team’s second line and likely be shifting between the second and third line.
The $3.25 million average annual value for a player with upside is not half-bad, a solid contract handed out by Yzerman.
If he pans out, it could prove to be the steal of the offseason. The hope should be that Suter finds success as a middle-six player with the Red Wings organization. If he can be that middle-six scorer who gets the job done, it will be more than worth it.
Given his breakout season, the optimism for Suter is that he can grow into a scoring role. If that’s the case and he makes it happen, he could very well become a 20-goal scorer over the course of a full season, not one shortened by a pandemic.
Initially, the signing of Suter may seem like a 50/50 one, I was not super stoked about it when I saw the notification for it, but I’ve come around after looking at it. He’s got scoring upside and will slot in as a middle-six guy with top-six projectability as he settles in at the NHL level.
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It’s only his second year; the hope should be to see a 20-goal season over 82 games while also seeing him develop into a complete player on both ends of the ice.