First a wedding, then Vancouver: Suter’s third new start in the NHL

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There are athletes who allow fans on social networks to look through the keyhole. Pius Suter (27) doesn’t seem to think much about that. There are only 13 photos on his Instagram page. The last one appeared almost two years ago and shows the man from Wallisellen ZH in the Detroit Red Wings uniform. “Delivering content is not one of my strengths,” says the striker.

It’s not like there hasn’t been good news from him lately. On the one hand, he and his long-time Swiss girlfriend Sara got married in the summer. On the other hand, the Nati forward has found a new NHL club.

For the second time, Suter found himself in the situation where he was on the market as a “free agent”. After his first year in the NHL, Chicago didn’t even make him a “qualifying offer” so as not to lose the rights to him. The reason: Suter could have earned a good salary at the NHL arbitration court because he had good stats (27 points in 55 games). The Blackhawks did not want to take that risk.

Then things happened very quickly. As soon as the free agent window opened, the Detroit Red Wings lured the NL leading scorer of 2020. Suter signed for two years and $6.5 million.

No common denominator with Detroit

“I could have imagined staying in Detroit,” Suter says. “But we couldn’t find a common denominator.” This time, in early July, when he was able to negotiate with other clubs, things did not move as quickly as two years before. His agent Georges Müller wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that the previous offers did not meet expectations. “I noticed that I had to be patient a little longer this time. But I’m happy with how it turned out,” Suter said.

He was nervous that it wouldn’t work out at a new club. He never considered the possibility of returning to Switzerland.

On August 11, the wait was over: Suter signed a two-year contract with the Vancouver Canucks, more than halving his average annual salary (3.75 versus 1.6 million).

Vancouver isn’t a top team either

Within three years he has already reached his third NHL club. You can also see that positively: three different teams believed in the Swiss. “Yes, you can see it that way,” Suter says with a laugh and emphasizes: “The goal was to establish yourself in the NHL. And I guess I can’t complain.”

Just like in Detroit and Chicago, Suter, who won the 2018 championship with the ZSC Lions, cannot assume that he will win the Stanley Cup so quickly in Vancouver. The Canucks have missed the playoffs the past three years despite having a top center in their ranks in Swede Elias Pettersson. “You never know,” Suter says mischievously. We will soon see how strong Vancouver really is: the new NHL season starts on Wednesday evening.

Source : Blick