Before last season, Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter’s fantasy value was questioned. For the first time in his career, he would not be playing next to former Nashville Predators teammate Shea Weber and would be asked to anchor a new young defense in Minnesota all by himself.
Suter proved all of his critics (including myself) wrong, by putting up one of the best seasons of all defensemen. Montreal’s P.K. Subban was the winner of the Norris Trophy, but Suter and Pittsburgh Penguin Kris Letang were the other candidates.
Letang has always been known as one of the league’s top offensive defensemen, which is part of the reason he is such a good name to have on your fantasy team.
Letang will always put points up, as he normally shares the ice with names like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and James Neal.
Suter is somewhat of an opposite in that sense. His Minnesota team isn’t nearly quite as talented offensively as Letang’s Penguins squad, but he still managed to put up incredible numbers from the blue line last year.
Other than raw talent, their teams vary immensely as well.
Suter’s Wild plays a defensive-based game, and despite making additions like Zach Parise and Dany Heatley in recent years, they are still consistently near the bottom in goals scored.
Letang’s Penguins are all offense, all the time. This has come back to hurt them, but they are always at the top of the league because it is nearly impossible for anyone to outscore them.
Because of this, Letang’s plus-minus is usually very high even though Pittsburgh gives up a large amount of goals themselves.
Letang’s stat lines have been fairly consistent throughout his career as Pittsburgh’s number one defenseman, and it is obviously a safe bet to expect the trend to continue.
There is a little more uncertainty when it comes to Suter. Last year was his first year in Minnesota, and it was an even smaller sample size since the season was only 48 games rather than the full 82.
Another difference between the two is that Pittsburgh’s defensive corps will remain almost the exact same, while Minnesota’s is made up of young defenders who are on the rise.
Paul Martin will likely be playing alongside Letang once again, but Suter’s partner is still up in the air. Could it be the surprising Jonas Brodin? Could it be former Nashville teammate Jonathon Blum? Could it be the highly-touted prospect Matthew Dumba? Could it be bear hunter Clayton Stoner?
Time will tell.
Suter’s performance last year with a much less-talented offensive team speaks volumes about his talent and leadership skills in his first year as his team’s top defenseman. Letang will continue to get lofty stats due to his offensive talent as well as the firepower of the rest of the Pittsburgh Penguins.
If you have to make a choice between the two, go with Letang. While either would be a good selection, Letang’s supporting cast in Pittsburgh could lead him to be the top-scoring defenseman in the NHL.