Suter taking recovery from ankle surgery slow at Wild's request

PLYMOUTH, Mich. -- Ryan Suter felt so good in his recovery from ankle surgery that he wanted to play in the Stars & Stripes Showdown at USA Hockey Arena on Sunday.
He sat out for one reason: Minnesota Wild general manager Paul Fenton called to say he'd rather he not play.

"He's the boss," said Suter, who showed up anyway for the event in honor of the late USA Hockey executive Jim Johansson. "I've got to do what he says."
Don't be surprised if the same dynamic continues in the coming weeks.
Suter plans to be ready for the start of training camp
, except for perhaps the first day of physical testing.
"Everyone's expecting me not to be back," he said, smiling. "Might as well milk it a little bit."
Suter sustained the injury March 31, had surgery April 5 and remains the Wild's No. 1 defenseman. His bosses might have a different timetable.
"I know they're going to want me to take it slow," Suter said. "Just do as much as I can."
Suter said he was relieved in mid-June when he went to see his doctor in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and had a CT scan.
"He goes, 'It's a miracle,' " Suter said. "I'm thinking, 'OK, you didn't say this when you first saw me. Why is it a miracle now?' I think he was just kind of worried -- maybe not worried's the right word, but wasn't as confident as he was when I saw him the last time."
Suter said he returned to the ice about a month ago and sent a video to the Wild's trainer.
"He sent me back [a message saying], 'Are you serious? What are you doing?' On the strides. I think I kind of threw him off-guard a little bit. But I feel good, and hopefully just continue to get better and stronger."
Suter said he has been skating with his usual summer group for a couple of weeks, and the scrimmages were harder than the Stars & Stripes Showdown, a benefit game that had 20 first-round NHL draft picks on the ice.

The test is yet to come, however.
"Interested and eager to see where he is," Wild forward Zach Parise said. "You know him. You're going to ask him. He's going to say, 'I'm fine. Nothing's wrong.' But I think once he gets himself in the heat of more intense practices and the game stuff, when you're not doing a scripted drill, when you've just got to play and react, I think that's when you can really test where your injury is. So fingers crossed. Hopefully that'll go by all right."