We’ve heard plenty from Predators GM David Poile and his apparent hurt feelings over losing Ryan Suter to free agency. His grumbles about Suter bolting to Minnesota have made some of us snicker.
As for Preds CEO Jeff Cogen, however, he understands it’s part of the business and throwing big money around doesn’t always pay off. Cogen tells Joshua Cooper of The Tennessean, the Predators will soldier on without Suter just fine.
“I don’t want to mislead you. Ryan Suter is a great hockey player. We wanted him on our team, and we’re disappointed he chose to go in a different direction,” Cogen said. “It’s not the death knell to the Nashville Predators. It challenges us.”
Those are proud words and Cogen knows all about giving up big money to land a player as he worked for the Texas Rangers when they ponied up $252 million to Alex Rodriguez. Cogen says, “there is no magic formula” and “it’s not what you spend, it’s how you spend it” when it comes to sports.
This is a much more reasoned take on things than what we’ve heard from Poile. It’s not as if the Predators didn’t try to spend big on Suter, they did, they just couldn’t compete with the comforts of home coupled with a big payday.