You won’t see these three together any longer.

Three days after Free Agency began on July 1st, Ryan Suter has finally made his decision as to where he will sign long term with. That team? Well, if you honestly believe after all that hubbub that he’d go, “Eh, I’ll just stay here in Nashville”, we’ll you were a bit naive.

Ryan Suter has signed a 13-year, $98 milllion contract with the Minnesota Wild. The defenseman told Predators’ GM David Poile that “family reasons” edged him over to the Wild, even though Nashville was just $8 million shy of the Wild’s overall pay amount. Poile was expressed his betrayal by saying, “the disappointing part is that wasn’t what we talked about all year long” [about him staying in Nashville].

Unlike the Jordin Tootoo debacle, Suter actually has a reason to go to Minnesota; it’s closer to home and it’s the closest team to his family in Wisconsin. You can’t hate the guy for taking the chance to return go closer to home, though you do have to roll your eyes at the fact he wanted to play for a “contending” [for the Cup] team.

However, the Minnesota Wild could possibly take a stab at the Cup this coming season, as Zach Parise, too signed a 13-year contract with the team, just moments after Suter’s announcement. As you recall from last season, the Wild were leading the Western Conference for a majority of the season, then suddenly dropped off the face of the hockey world. Could the pairing of Parise and Suter override the partnership that Suter and Weber had? Only time will tell. Who knows, these two could be oil and water with each other.

Now the question remains as to what Nashville will do. Of course, their first priority now is to claw at Shea Weber to keep him around, even without his best pal, Ryan. GM David Poile will probably make an outrageous offer to Weber, but what else does Nashville have to lose?

As long as Nashville is able to get Shea Weber on board without Ryan Suter, the Predators should be just fine without defenseman, Ryan Suter. However, Poile better be kissing Weber’s feet and cutting his steak at this point.

Good luck in Minnesota, Suter!