wild/nhl

“I’m happy with the decision,” he said. “I’m happy being here. I think our team has a lot of potential. … Five or six players have left [Nashville], they came back and nothing was ever made of it. This is getting a lot of attention, and I don’t see a difference. But a team can trade a guy at any time, or cut a guy. That’s how the business is.”

On a bit of a roll

Suter returns to Nashville playing well. He is tied for fourth among NHL defensemen with 14 assists, with 10 coming in his past 12 games. He is first in the league in ice time (27 minutes, 27 seconds per game).

“It probably doesn’t hurt,” Suter said, smiling. “If I was stinking it up they’d probably said, ‘Don’t you wish you were here?’ All that kind of stuff.”

As it is, there will be nerves. “I didn’t think I’d be that nervous until I actually showed up at the rink here,” Suter said to reporters after Friday’s practice in Nashville.

But, Suter said, he’s not really spending much time trying to figure out what folks in Nashville are saying. That’s counterproductive, a waste of time. Suter knows his return Saturday might not be particularly pleasant or warm, but it’s something he has to deal with. And then move on.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” he said. “You could read 100 things of people saying bad things, and find some good things, too, I’m sure. It’s not like I’m a 20-year veteran, but I’ve been in the league long enough to know you’re going to go through different things. Can’t get too high or low, right?”