Suter confident he can play until age 45, compared to Chelios by Stars

Ryan Suter
is 36 years old, but the Dallas Stars defenseman said he has plenty of hockey ahead of him.

"I think I can play until I'm 45 if I want," Suter said Thursday. "I just think the way I play. My play hasn't gone down over the last 10 years. I think it's actually gotten better."
Suter signed a four-year, $14.6 million contract
($3.65 million average annual value) with Dallas on Wednesday. He was an unrestricted free agent after he had the final four seasons of his 13-year, $98 million contract ($7.54 million AAV) bought out by the Minnesota Wild on July 13.
Suter scored 19 points (three goals, 16 assists) in 56 games last season and had one assist in seven Stanley Cup Playoff games.
"It was a good conversation I had with all the teams and a lot of them felt he same way I did, like, 'You can play as long as you want the way you play. You really don't get hit that often. You think the game, you make good hard passes, you're in shape, you take care of your body,'" Suter said. "So just kind of all those things give me a lot of confidence that I can play after this contract if I want to."

Stars general manager Jim Nill compared Suter to Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman Chris Chelios, who played until he was 48.
"He reminds me a lot of [Chris] when I was in Detroit, one of those guys who doesn't seem to age," Nill said Wednesday. "He's the type of player that can be on a minute and a half shift, come back to the bench, and in 10 seconds the coach can tap him on the shoulder, he's ready to go again. He's a heavy body, he's got iron lungs and he's a great skater."
Since making his NHL debut in 2005, Suter has led defensemen with 29,993:29 of ice time in 1,198 games for the Nashville Predators and Wild, an average of 25:02 per game. Edmonton Oilers defenseman Duncan Keith, who also debuted in 2005 with the Chicago Blackhawks, is second with 29,714:55 of ice time in 1,192 games (24:56 per game).
Starting in 1997-98, when the NHL began tracking time on ice, until Chelios retired in 2010, he played 16,040:06 minutes in 731 games (21:57 per game). He played 920 games prior to that stat's introduction.
How does Suter's ice time at 36 compare to Chelios at the same age? Last season, Suter averaged 22:11 per game, 48th in the NHL among defensemen (minimum 40 games) and third on the Wild behind Jonas Brodin (22:26) and Matt Dumba (22:17). Chelios turned 36 during the 1997-98 season, when he was sixth with an average ice time of 25:21 per game for the Blackhawks.
Nill said Suter, who shoots left, could play with either John Klingberg or Miro Heiskanen. Klingberg is a right-hand shot and Heiskanen can play either side.
Suter said he's ready to help a Stars defense that has ranked in the top 10 in goals-against the past four seasons, including eighth (2.64 per game) last season.
"I'm just excited to be a part of that," Suter said. "I'm looking forward to having a lot of success helping those guys, and they'll help me. I just think it'll be a good fit for the D corps and just for our team in general."