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Ryan Suter is apparently not going to be traded

2012 Molson Canadian NHL All-Star Skills Competition

OTTAWA, ON - JANUARY 28: Ryan Suter #20 of the Nashville Predators and Team Chara gets introduced prior to the 2012 Molson Canadian NHL All-Star Skills Competition at Scotiabank Place on January 28, 2012 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

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Ryan Suter might be the hottest commodity around the NHL world thanks to him becoming an unrestricted free agent this summer. Suter saying he wasn’t going to negotiate a new deal before the trade deadline only stoked the fires that trade rumors are created from.

With teams oozing cap room and in need of a cornerstone defenseman, Suter being dealt at the deadline could create a feeding frenzy for the Predators.

Courtesy of Frank Seravalli of the Philly Daily News, he hears from an inside source that the Predators won’t be putting Suter on the market any time soon.

“The consensus among us is that Nashville will be hanging onto him, even if they know the odds are not in their favor of re-signing him,” one Eastern Conference GM told the Daily News on condition of anonymity. “If he does decide to trade him, [David] Poile has the market cornered. There are very few defensemen of Suter’s caliber in the league and Nashville has two of them.

“You have to wonder whether the Predators can continue to trade away their top players for prospects because they can’t afford to pay them.”

It could be a great place for the Predators to be in to have command of the trade market and have teams like the Red Wings and Flyers at their beck and call. Giving up a top defenseman to do that, however, makes it a really awkward position to be in.

As for now, the Predators will hope they can get Suter signed before July 1 lest they lose him for nothing to those same teams.