Three Big Milestones Blues' Ryan Suter Could Reach Next Season
After Ryan Suter signed a one-year contract with the St. Louis Blues, he could get to some impressive NHL milestones next season, including 1,500 games.
Ryan Suter signed with the St. Louis Blues on July 10, about one-and-a-half weeks after the Dallas Stars bought out the final season of his contract.
While Suter is just one of two players to have had a contract bought out twice after an initial 2021 buyout – Tony DeAngelo being the other after buyouts in 2021 and 2023 – he has played more NHL hockey than anyone else since the 2004-05 lockout, and he's not done yet.
Not only has Suter played the most games of any NHL player since 2005-06, with 1,444 matches, but he's also played more than 64 hours more time on ice than the next-most minute-logging player, Brent Burns.
The 39-year-old has also won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2004 world juniors and a silver at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. He's also been a finalist for the Norris Trophy in 2012-13, a first-team all-star that same season and a veteran who's made the Western Conference final with the Stars in each of the last two seasons.
With the amount of experience Suter has had, he'll have a shot at moving up some NHL all-time leaderboards next season, as well as some milestones. Here are three examples.
1,500 Games Played
Suter is 56 games away from becoming the 22nd player and seventh defenseman in NHL history to play 1,500 career regular-season games.
He currently ranks 30th all-time for most games played, but he can pass six Hockey Hall of Famers if he gets to 1,500, including Tim Horton (1,445), Teemu Selanne (1,451), Phil Housley (1,495) and Wayne Gretzky (1,487).
Not only could Suter pass those well-known names in hockey history, but he could make some extra money in the process.
While Suter's getting a $775,000 cap hit for his one-year contract, he can earn an additional $225,000 bonus for 10 games played, another $400,000 for 30 games, $500,000 for 40 games and $600,000 for 60 games played. If he plays at least 60 games and appears in the playoffs, that'll be another $500,000 for Suter, per PuckPedia.
500 Consecutive Games Played
As Lou Korac noted on The Hockey News' Blues site, St. Louis has nine defensemen on one-way contracts after adding Suter. Five of them are left-handed, including Suter. With that, there's internal competition to earn ice time unless other moves are in store.
Suter hasn't missed a game since 2018. He's played 453 straight games, 47 away from 500. He has the second-longest active streak as well, although Burns leads the way by far with 843 straight games.
It could be tougher this season to keep that streak going if the Blues don't guarantee him a spot. But if he manages to get to No. 500, he'd have the 29th streak in NHL history to get that far.
700 Career Points
Suter recorded 17 points last season with Dallas to get to 681 in his career. In 2022-23, he had 25 points.
If he can add 19 points next season, he'll reach 700 points. Only 29 defensemen in NHL history have reached the 700-point mark, but Suter isn't the only D-man who could get there next campaign. Nashville Predators captain Roman Josi is at 686 points, while Washington Capitals defender John Carlson is at 674, and Los Angeles Kings blueliner Drew Doughty is at 669 points.
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