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Top 5 Defensive Free Agents the Carolina Hurricanes Should Target

By Nick Bass

May 30, 2021; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jake Bean (24) celebrates his third period goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning in game one of the second round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at PNC Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
May 30, 2021; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jake Bean (24) celebrates his third period goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning in game one of the second round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs at PNC Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports /
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May 13, 2021; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter (20) shoots during the first period against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
May 13, 2021; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter (20) shoots during the first period against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /

3. Ryan Suter

Time to dive into the dangerous world of potential Dougie Hamilton replacements. We’ll start with Ryan Suter. Suter, recently bought out by the Minnesota Wild on the backend of a massive 13-year contract, was absolutely shocked to get bought out. In fact, he was on the phone with former teammate Zach Parise when he got a call from GM Bill Guerin, who ended up breaking the news to him that he was going to be bought out. With news leaking of Ryan Suter not wanting to sign in Canada, could Suter fit in Raleigh?

Suter, currently 36 years old, is in the last couple years of his career. Being a stalwart defenseman for the Minnesota Wild for the past 9 years, he has been a top-pairing defenseman playing time-wise, right up until this last year.

This past year, normally playing alongside Matt Dumba averaging around 20 minutes per night, he had 3 goals and 16 assists for 19 points in 56 games. Suter doesn’t take a ton of penalties; he’s only registered 24 penalty minutes in the last 2 years combined and he plays on the power play.

Looking into his advanced numbers, his goals above expected is a .4, which is the second highest on the Wild. His corsi number of 48% is tied for 2nd highest on the Wild, and he was on ice for 55.2% of the Wild’s goals this year. Not too bad for a guy that is currently 36-years old still playing a high amount of minutes.

The downside with him? He isn’t good defensively. You can definitely tell that his foot speed isn’t where it was and he is starting to show his age. All things considered, he’s still projected to be a top-pairing defenseman heading into next year because of his extremely solid offensive ability.

What would a potential contract look like for Ryan Suter? Well I know for one thing, it won’t be the same length as his last one and it quite possibly would be a lot smaller than his last contract. My guess is, because of his age, Suter takes a one year deal at around $2.5-3.5 million. Would Suter replace all of Hamilton’s ability? No, not at all. Would he replace his offensive output? Still no, but he could definitely replace some of the point output that Hamilton has brought to Raleigh.

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