Predators GM David Poile has quite the time ahead of him. With two cornerstone defensemen to get locked up to long-term deals in Ryan Suter and Shea Weber while managing a team that’s notoriously thrifty life can get tricky.
What we weren’t aware of though was that negotiating a contract with an impending unrestricted free agent like Suter is a lot like courtship. That’s what Josh Cooper of The Tennessean finds out from Poile as the Preds GM opens up about what it’s like to talk things over with a franchise player.
“We talk every week. I met with (his agent) Neil Sheehy for about an hour before the game tonight. It’s just ongoing. It’s the same situation. Everything is being said the way you want a player to say it and the way you want a negotiation to go, except for the final commitment. It’s almost like we’re having a good time together, but we haven’t decided to get married yet.”
This is almost set up to be played out like an episode of “The Bachelor” except instead of roses there are team sweaters.
As for whether or not there’s a deadline to make a move with Suter, Poile says his only deadline is July 1. Keep that in mind as the trade deadline approaches in a few weeks.