Nashville Predators: Recent Stretch Proves Ryan Suter's Importance to the Preds

When All-Star defenseman and impending free agent Ryan Suter didn't return to the ice for the second period Monday against the New York Islanders, the hockey world started buzzing that he was traded mid-game, reminiscent of the Michael Cammalleri-to-the-Flames fiasco last week.

Luckily, Suter is just out with an upper-body injury and is expected to be back soon. But his absence has been felt hard by the Preds in the last five periods that they've been without the American star. 

The Preds have been held scoreless since Suter left Monday's game, winning 3-1 with three first-period goals at the Islanders on Monday and being shutout, 3-0, Tuesday night against the league-leading New York Rangers. In many cases, losing a top defender would cause a team to fold defensively and give up some extra goals. This week, however, the offense has also been hurting thanks in no small part to Suter.

Suter orchestrates the offense with linemate Shea Weber, especially on the power play. He's tied for second on the team with 20 assists and is often the first element of the goals he's helped to produce. The blame can't be put entirely on Suter's absence, but Nashville (third in the NHL on the man-advantage) looked disgustingly stagnant on the power play in six minutes Tuesday night. 

After the Preds stormed out to a 3-0 lead after the first period against the Islanders Monday, New York outshot Nashville, 31-20, for the game's remainder. It was much more due to an unbelievable game by Pekka Rinne (36 saves on 37 attempts) that they retained that lead rather than defensive play. 

Nashville is now 4-8-1 in the last two seasons combined without Suter. Fellow All-Star Weber didn't miss a single game last year, but the Preds went 3-1 this year against stiff competition when Weber was out with a concussion. They gave up just five goals in those three wins. 

Weber is not the same defender without his trusty blue-line companion, and numbers show that head coach Barry Trotz feels the same. Weber has averaged 23:21 of ice time in these last two games while his time on ice is at 26:10 for the season. You'd think the Preds would lean on Weber more with him out of the lineup, but that hasn't been the case.

Widely considered as the league's top defender, Weber gets much more credit as an overall player than his linemate. But don't underestimate Suter's value to this team and the unique role he has on both sides of the puck.

With a trivial offseason ahead, don't think the Predators front office will be underestimating it, either.