For about the first 10 games of the season, Wild coach Bruce Boudreau paid attention to how much he deployed defenseman Ryan Suter since he was working back from a severe ankle injury and appeared in just one preseason game.
But now, more than two months into the schedule, the Wild can rely on Suter as much as it wants — a resource that may help the team ease the sting of Matt Dumba's absence because of injury.
"He's fine now," Boudreau said of Suter. "If we give him 30 [minutes], he's going to want 35. We give him 35, he's going to want 40. He's a special athlete, and we know that. He's one of the smartest players, so he can adjust to whatever ice time he gets."
It's been almost nine months since Suter was hit into the boards March 31 by the Stars' Remi Elie in Dallas, a collision that broke his talus and the outside of his right fibula, and it certainly looks like he has regained his form on the ice.
Entering play Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center against the San Jose Sharks, he averaged a team-high 25 minutes, 47 seconds and boasted five assists in his previous three games. Going back even further, he was contributing at a point-per-game pace with a goal and 10 assists the past 11 times he suited up. He played 29 minutes Tuesday night.
"I'm finally starting to feel a little bit better now," Suter said. "The first couple months I was kind of worried. I didn't know if things would get back. They're starting to fall into place, and I'm starting to feel more comfortable out there."
Last Saturday, in a 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames, the 33-year-old logged a season-high 29:49 — this despite serving a five-minute major for fighting, just the third fight of Suter's career and the first since 2009.
Suter squared off with Flames winger Sam Bennett, the third of three fights in the first period; Dumba's tussle with winger Matthew Tkachuk started the parade, and that period was the only one Dumba played before leaving the game. He'll be out at least a week with an upper-body injury.
