Stars to buy out veteran defenseman

Jeff Marek of Sportsnet is reporting that the Dallas Stars are buying out the final year of defenseman Ryan Suter’s contract. 

Suter was owed $4.3M in actual salary and was set to carry a cap hit of $3.65M as part of the four-year, $14.6M contract he inked in July 2021. 

The buyout marks the second time in Suter’s career that his contract has been cut short as the Minnesota Wild bought out the final four years of his 13-year, $98M contract back in July 2021. 

With the move, Dallas will add a $1.4M charge to its cap for the 2025-26 season, but it will save $2.866M this season (as per CapFriendly). Typically, a 35+ contract buyout wouldn’t lead to any savings; however, Suter’s contract was not frontloaded and had no signing bonuses after the first year, meaning the Stars will see some savings.

Suter played in all 82 games last season for Dallas but saw his offensive production drop for a second consecutive season as he tallied just two goals and 15 assists. His average ice time dropped to the lowest it has been since his rookie season with Nashville back in 2005-06.

While Suter isn’t the elite rearguard he once was, he remained an effective player for the Stars as he never missed a game in his three years with the team. He was still a decent possession player, posting a CF% of 51% at even-strength. 

Suter can still skate and block shots and is responsible on his end. He is still an NHL defenseman despite being 39 years old. Suter will likely have interest from other teams in free agency if he elects to continue his career.

For the Stars, the move is surprising, but it makes sense given that they are hoping to retain pending unrestricted free agents Chris Tanev and Matt Duchene. 

Dallas had just over $16M in available cap space coming into Thursday and also has to try and re-sign restricted free-agent defenseman Thomas Harley. If the Stars do sign those three players, it will eat into most of their remaining cap space and would have left little room to fill out the remainder of their roster.