Doug Armstrong, President of hockey operations for the St. Louis Blues, brought in seven new NHL-level players in the 2024 offseason, via trade, free agency, and a rare offer sheets move. How are each of these additions performing, before the calendar turns to 2025?
In this short series of pieces, I'll pair statistics and analytics with a little bit of the good-ol'-fashioned eye test to evaluate each player individually and determine how they're performing this season. If you missed my first piece in the series, where I examined Philip Broberg and Radek Faksa, you can find it here. In Part 2 of the series, I'll take a look at Ryan Suter and Alexandre Texier.
Ryan Suter
Veteran defenseman Ryan Suter signed as a free agent with St. Louis in a move that, at the time, appeared to be an attempt to help cover the loss of Torey Krug to a season-ending surgery.
Suter's contract is worth $775,000, plus up to $2.225 million in playing time bonuses. So far, after 36 games, Suter has earned two of those bonuses, netting $225,000 for playing 10 games and an additional $400,000 for playing 30 games. He's well on his way to earning the remaining bonuses for 40 games played and 60 games played. But how has Suter performed, relative to both expectations and his compensation?
Let's start with the basic stats. In 36 games played, Suter has picked up seven points (1 goal, 6 assists). He also has six takeaways, 35 giveaways, 24 hits, and 48 blocks (3rd on the Blues). Those stats have come in a lot of minutes for Suter, who plays the 3rd highest average time on ice for Blues skaters at 21:51 per game.
Suter has stepped up in a big way this season, as the blue line has suffered the losses of Nick Leddy and Philip Broberg to injury. For 488 of his 786 minutes this season, Suter has played on the top pair with Colton Parayko. That's the 12th most minutes for a d-pair in the NHL this season. In what could have been a tricky situation for the Blues, Suter has established himself as a solid, reliable defensive presence.
Offensively, Suter and Parayko have performed relatively poorly. Among defensive pairs with at least 450 minutes of TOI together, Suter and Parayko have been on the ice for the second fewest goals, at only 17. They have also been on the ice for the fewest expected goals for, scoring chances for, and high danger chances for among defensive pairs with at least 450 TOI, according to Natural Stat Trick. With Cam Fowler entering the fold, Suter will see less time with Parayko but these numbers demonstrate his overall lack of offense this season, even alongside one of St. Louis' best offensive defensemen in Parayko.
Defensively, however, the story somewhat improves for Suter. While goals against numbers aren't great for Suter and Parayko, this is partially due to some periods of struggle from goaltenders Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer (the on-ice save % for Suter and Parayko is only .890). They have limited high danger chances relatively well, allowing the 9th fewest (94) among defensive pairs with 450 TOI.
So far this season, Suter has been a poor offensive player. Among defensemen who have played as many minutes as he has, Suter ranks at or near the bottom in almost every offensive category. But Suter wasn't signed to be a difference-maker offensively. Additionally, while not necessarily elite on the other side of the puck, Suter has been solid on the blue line for a team that has desperately needed good defense. Overall, considering his preseason expectations, the Blues have gotten what they paid for with Suter, and then some.