Blues’ Ryan Suter to become third American-born player to appear in 1,500 NHL games

Ryan Suter is set to etch his name among a select group of players.

When the St. Louis Blues defenseman takes to the ice on Saturday night against the Chicago Blackhawks, he will be skating in his 1,500th NHL game, becoming just the third player born in the United States to accomplish the feat.

Suter joins three-time Stanley Cup champions Matt Cullen (1,516) and Chris Chelios (1,651) as the only American-born players to reach the milestone. Chelios is now in the Hockey Hall of Fame, while Cullen was recently inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.

The Madison, Wisconsin native will also become the 22nd player all-time to play in 1,500 regular-season games, surpassing fellow American Mike Modano, who infamously ended his career at 1,499 games.

The longevity of Suter is certainly an interesting tale. Starting with the Nashville Predators coming out of the 2004-05 lockout, he became part of the best d-pairs in the NHL alongside Shea Weber. That was, until 2012, when he and Zach Parise signed their 13-year contracts with the Minnesota Wild, only for both to be bought out in 2021.

Suter then went on to sign with the Dallas Stars, only to have the final year of his contract bought out last summer, making him just the second player in NHL history to be bought out twice. Yet, the 40-year-old continued on, signing a one-year deal with the Blues and has been in the lineup for each of the team’s first 55 games.

Across his 20-year career, Suter has played the full 82-game season 10 times, including all three years in Dallas. He also played the entire COVID-shortened 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns and all 48 games during the 2013 season, which was limited due to a lockout.

This season in St. Louis, the former University of Wisconsin product has potted a goal and 10 points. In the first 1,499 games of his career, Suter has notched 106 goals and 585 assists for 691 points, including 44 points in 133 Stanley Cup Playoff appearances.

The Blues (24-26-5) are sixth in the Central Division, eight points back of the last Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.