35, Suter said he never contemplated retirement due to the ailments as he wanted to repay the Sharks for their support of him. He agreed to defer a portion of his salary that year to allow San Jose to sign a replacement player. Suter returned for the 1999–2000 season healthy and played over 20 minutes per game as San Jose's most experienced defenseman. Reaching a career milestone, Suter played in his 1,000th NHL game on October 25, 2000, scoring a goal in a 3–1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. He said the achievement meant a lot to him given both the ailments he overcame and that he was dismissed by critics as unlikely to play in the NHL when he was drafted in 1984. Suter finished the regular season with 34 points, but missed nearly the entire playoffs after suffering a concussion in the Sharks' first playoff game. Signing a new one-year contract, Suter returned to San Jose for a final season in 2001–02 in which he scored 33 points, including his 200th career goal, against the Philadelphia Flyers on January 2, 2002. He announced his retirement as a player following the season. International Suter made his international debut with the American national junior team at the 1984 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships where he recorded a goal and an assist in seven games. He was playing college hockey with Wisconsin when he made his debut with the senior team at the 1985 World Championship. One of his team's top players in the tournament, he was named co-MVP of Team USA. Suter played in a second World Championship in 1992. Suter's international career was marred by three controversial incidents. He was the target of international criticism following a vicious incident during the 1987 Canada Cup in a game against the Soviet Union. Following a physical battle with Andrei Lomakin, Suter was speared in the neck by the Soviet player. He retaliated with a "baseball swing" that broke his stick across Lomakin's face, causing a gash that required 20 stitches to close. Suter was given a six-game suspension from international competition by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), while the NHL assessed a four-game ban of its own. Suter was again vilified in the 1991 Canada Cup tournament after he knocked Canada's Wayne Gretzky out of the tournament with a check-from-behind in the first game of the best-of-three final. Gretzky