Ryan Suter More Than Willing To Be Mentor To Young St. Louis Blues Defensemen

Veteran 39-year-old defenseman, in his 20th season after signing one-year contract with Blues, gets opportunity to help nurture 24-year-old Matthew Kessel, other young d-men

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- The first time Ryan Suter put on the Bluenote and stepped onto the ice for the fourth team he's played for in the Central Division in his now 20-year career, the 39-year-old found himself learning from a 24-year-old.

Suter, who spent the past three seasons with the Dallas Stars before being bought out of the final year of his contract and sign a one-year, incentive-laden deal with the Blues was taking part in his first practice with his new team. And his defensive partner, Matthew Kessel, immediately took charge in helping his new teammate -- and defensive partner -- feel at home.

"He's a great kid. Just a class act," Suter said of Kessel. "I didn't know anything about him. He's helping me with the drills telling me where to go, those type of things. Everything's new, so he's been great. He can play. I think the sky's the limit for him. It's been fun getting to know him the last couple of weeks."

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It's supposed to be the other way around, and it will be. Suter, with 1,444 regular-season games, including 681 points (105 goals, 576 assists) and a plus-120, and 133 Stanley Cup playoff games, including 44 points (seven goals, 37 assists) on his resume, will help mentor Kessel, with 41 regular-season games' worth of experience to his resume. It's a different kind of match, but one the Blues envisioned working when they brought Suter in once word trickled down that Torey Krug at the time may, and later confirmed will, miss the 2024-25 season.

They played in a game together for the first time on Wednesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the first of what is likely many this season.

And Kessel is in awe.

"I've been able to watch him for a long time," Kessel said of Suter, who has averaged 24:21 ice time in his regular season career and 25:06 in his playoff career. "He's got a lot of games in the NHL. It's a lot of fun. It's great to be able to be lined up with him here in camp and hopefully the start of the season. We haven't played a game yet, but excited for that when we get out there. He's someone I'd like to emulate my game after. He's a hard defenseman, plays a simple game, takes care of the d-zone, makes easy breakouts and snaps the puck up to the forward quick. It's been great being able to skate with him."

Being a free agent, Suter could have walked away from the game. His career started with the Nashville Predators in 2005 after being the No. 7 pick in the 2003 NHL Draft and played in Music City through the 2011-12 season before signing a lucrative and at the time, unprecedented 13-year, $98 million contract with the Minnesota Wild hoping to end his career close to the Madison, Wisconsin's native home on the same day Zach Parise signed an identical deal with Minnesota.

But the Wild bought out the final four years of Suter and Parise's contracts, and the defenseman was on the move, only to remain in the Central Division when he signed with the Dallas Stars, for four years and $14.6 million and be bought out again with one year left.

That's when Blues general manager Doug Armstrong came calling and sort of went against the norm here signing someone at the end of their career instead of adding more youth.

It's another Central Division team scratched off the list and the right place at the right time, and another Midwest team. He signed for $775,000 with the chance to earn $2,225,000 in performance bonuses.

"They have a really good group of guys," Suter said of the Blues. "They've got a good mix of younger guys, older guys, they've got great goaltending, Midwest. It worked from all angles (and) all aspects.

"Obviously (winning the Stanley Cup is) everything. It's why you play. There's nothing you can really say more than that. I've been fortunate. I've been on some really good teams (and) we've been close but haven't gotten that. Hopefully we can change that."

It almost sounds surreal that a 39-year-old as durable as can be (Suter has played in all 82 games of a season 10 times, including the past three with the Stars), is joining a group that has 12 first-round picks 25 or younger.

"I think they've done a great job," Suter said of the Blues. "When you sign somewhere, you look at all the pieces. I think they've done a really good job of drafting. A lot of high picks, guys that can play. It's one thing to have high picks and they're just high picks that never really pan out. I think they've done a really good job of making those mid-range first-round picks pan out.

"I do feel good. It's fun. It's a new challenge. Great group of guys. It's a lot of fun to be a part of."

Suter, whose father Bob Suter was a defenseman on the 1980 US Miracle on Ice team and uncle Gary Suter played 17 seasons for the Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks, has had the role of helping nurture along good players that are now established in the league, including Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin with the Wild, and recently, Miro Heiskanen with the Stars. He will now get the opportunity to do the same for Kessel.

"I think right now with 'Sutes' there, that's somebody that's a proven NHL player that's been around for a long time and been through the ups and downs," Blues coach Drew Bannister said. "For us, I think it's a great pairing because we'd like to see 'Kess' take the next step of consistency in his game and I think 'Sutes' is a good guy there to help him through that."

Suter said he embraces the role.

"I do. I love it. It's fun," he said. "It's fun how you go through your career, you have different roles, responsibilities and then to come here, you kind of get to put it all together, it's exciting.

"When you start playing with someone new, it takes time to build ... knowing where they're going to be, the support level. That's the biggest thing is just kind of talking through certain situations, 'Hey, we screwed up there, let's try something different here.'

"I think the biggest thing when you're a player is confidence, right? So it's always just pumping him up, pumping guys up. That's probably my last 5-10 years is just like, you learn that and just try and pump guys up because everyone in this room, everyone's in the league for a reason and when guys are playing with confidence, it goes so far."

The Blues are just glad to have a player with such a resume, including playing for the United States in the Olympics, World Cup and World Juniors on their side instead of having to face him so many times.

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"Every time you play against him, he's tough to play against," Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said of Suter. "He's out there all the time, he plays a ton of minutes. He's always been in our division, Minnesota, Dallas, Nashville. Definitely have seen him a lot. When you get a guy like that that can just eat minutes, hard to play against, you talk to the forwards that play against him, just the little things ... I'm excited because we obviously gained a real good player and teammate but we can learn a lot from him.

"There's no fluke that he's been in the league for 20 seasons. He's doing something right. When you get guys like that that you can watch and learn from, even myself in my 10th season, that's key. Guys can learn from a guy that's been in the league for 20 years, 1,500 games, that goes a long way for our group."

There certainly will be opportunities to play with veterans, such as Parayko and Justin Faulk, or even Nick Leddy, or even other younger d-men like P.O. Joseph, Scott Perunovich or Tyler Tucker. Right now, it's Kessel's turn to learn.

"He still has fun obviously," Kessel said of Suter. "He wouldn't be here if he wasn't. It's obviously impressive. I think everyone in the locker room can obviously learn something from him, anything from his routine to being healthy for so long, to being able to play that many games. He's been such a good, quality player for so long. We're excited to have him here."