Ryan Suter raised some eyebrows by blasting the owners - including the Minnesota Wild’s Craig Leipold - for “going back on their word” regarding contracts.
With some time to think about it, he told the Minnesota Star-Tribune’s Michael Russo he doesn’t question Leipold after all.
“I thought a lot about it since what I said, I don’t question Craig Leipold and Minnesota with regards to negotiating our contracts in good faith,” Suter said. “I don’t question that. That might have came off wrong ... It’s just frustrating. We just want to play.”
Suter admits that his contract was built with some significant protection from the lockout, too.
“There definitely was,” Suter said. “Whenever the CBA’s up, after last time what happened, we wanted to protect ourselves, so yeah, there was risk. We both knew that. Just moving forward, I don’t want to get into a battle about that. I don’t want to be a posterboy. I’m just trying to be honest with you. I don’t question Craig. I don’t feel like it was negotiated unfaithfully or untruthfully.”
It begs the question: will it be awkward between Suter and the Wild owner whenever the lockout blows over?
Suter doesn’t think so.
“I don’t see it being a problem once this is over,” Suter said. “Don [Fehr] is doing a great job for the players and we stand behind him. They’re negotiating and we’re sitting back waiting for it to get done so we can play.”