Sylvain Cloutier has today added considerable size and toughness to the Hull Stingrays lineup for the 10/11 season with the addition of 27 year old defenceman Matt Suderman from French Elite League side Morzine-Avoriaz Penguines.
Suderman, who stands at 6'3ft tall and is a former draft pick of the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers (1999), joins returnees Craig Mitchell and Stephen Burns, and new captain Joshua Mizerek on the blueline for the Rays next season.
The native of Winkler, Manitoba, will be a six year pro with the Stingrays next season after spells in North American league's the CHL, SPHL and UHL and with a single year France.
It was in his junior years in the renowned Western Hockey League (WHL) primarily with the Saskatoon Blades that Suderman became best known for his physical play, hitting the 350 minute mark in penalties during a 190 game, four year spell in the juniors.
Undoubtedly, those 350 minutes and physical prowess helped him become part of the Atlanta Thrashers organisation, albeit briefly, in 2001 as the the Thrashers saw enough to draft him in the seventh round, 199th overall. He went on to make just one appearance in pre-season for the Thrashers, taking a five minute major for a fight with Jevon Desautels.
In his rookie season in 04/05 Suderman bounced between the SPHL with Knoxville, CHL with Rio Grande and UHL with both the Richmond Riverdogs and Kansas City Outlaws netting just one goal and adding four assists, a poor return for anyone but particularly for a former draft pick looking to establish himself.
He finally added some stability to his career in 05/06, spending the whole year with the Missouri River Otters, hitting a goal and three assists. Two goals, 16 assists, 258 penalty minutes and a CHL championship with the Arizona Sundogs followed in the next two years before he opted to end his stay in the States and move to Europe, where last season he hit a goal and two assists in 21 games with Morzine-Avoriaz of the French top flight.
While admittedly he has scored just five goals and added 25 assists in five years of professional hockey, coach Sylvain Cloutier is adamant that the massive defenceman, who is another new signing to have previously won a championshop, will add more to the side than most will expect of him.
"He's big and strong and I think we lack that last year. He will clear players from in front of our net. Last season we lacked the transition game, with Pavel Gomenyuk our best defencemen in that respect. This year we'll have four guys who can help us."Initially it looks as though the enforcer, who has 55 career fights to his name, is stepping in to replace the considerable size of Pavel Gomenyuk, who was not offered a deal to return to Hull and has instead ended up in Manchester. The Ukrainian was consistently inconsistent season-on-season for the Rays, a solid defenceman with a big slapshot and a good outlet pass one minute, a slow liability defensively the next.
Naturally, while it will be a bonus if Suderman chips in with anything offensive, he will play a big role in protecting the likes of Konstantin Kalmikov, Jason Silverthorn and, to a lesser extent, Chris Korchinski, who will carry the brunt of the offensive thrust and will be a target for the more physical opposition players.
The more you analyse it the more the signing of Suderman appears to be a two for the price of one type deal for Cloutier, as he looks to mix the outlet pass and defensive solidity of Gomenyuk with the tough, no fear role of departed tough guy Adam Knight.
Although Cloutier has spoken of team toughness, with himself, Stephen Burns and Chris Korchinski all able to drop the mitts, there is no doubt that Suderman will be the go to guy with the fists.
His signing leaves the Stingrays searching for just one import, a defenceman, thought to be former Basingstoke Bison Trevor Read, ahead of their fifth EIHL campaign, just their second under coach Cloutier.
