Tips acquire veteran D-man Chad Suer

Published 12:41 pm Friday, September 17, 2010

This morning the Everett Silvertips learned goaltender Thomas Heemskerk was being sent back to the WHL by the NHL’s San Jose Sharks.

Apparently that triggered a trade that was already in the works.

This morning Everett moved to shore up its defense, acquiring 20-year-old defenseman Chad Suer from Moose Jaw in exchange for the 20-year-old Heemskerk.

Suer, a 6-foot, 205-pound native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, has four seasons of WHL experience. Last season he appeared in 64 games for Moose Jaw, recording five goals, 15 assists and 32 penalty minutes.

Suer is exactly what the Tips needed. I don’t know a whole lot about him specifically, as we in Everett only see Moose Jaw once every other year, but he’s an experienced stay-at-home d-man who’s proven himself in the league. He should at least be able to fill the spot in Everett’s top four left vacated by the retirements of Chris de la Lande and Curtis Kulchar.

Suer’s addition gives Everett nine defensemen on the roster. That means the Tips will probably make a cut or two before the season begins.

As for Heemskerk, he was never a part of Everett’s plans this season. He was good in his year-and-a-half with the Tips. When acquired in December of 2009 he solidified a troubling goaltending situation, and last season he and Kent Simpson formed the best goaltending platoon in the league — Heemskerk was 24-12-2-2 with a 2.34 goals against average and a league-leading .927 save percentage. However, the Tips believe Simpson, at 18, is ready to take over as the full-time starter, leaving Heemskerk excess requirements. Everett wasn’t even sure Heemskerk was going to be back this season as he’s already signed a contract with the Sharks and is eligible to play professionally in the minors. His return turned out to be quite the boon for the Tips.

This leaves Everett with two overagers, Suer and center Clayton Cumiskey. The Tips will probably just stick with the two and leave one overage roster slot empty, at least for the time being.