Ryan McDonagh is returning to Tampa Bay, hoping to help the Lightning win the Stanley Cup again after two seasons in Nashville.
The Predators traded McDonagh back to the Lightning on Tuesday, giving the veteran defenseman a welcome return to the organization he helped win two championships and freeing up some salary cap space to add and make changes this offseason.
Tampa Bay reacquired McDonagh less than 22 months after sending him to Nashville as a cash transfer, this time sending a 2025 second-round pick and a 2024 seventh-rounder to the Predators for the soon-to-be 35-year-old and Edmonton. fourth-round pick this summer.
“Honestly, I didn’t really see a scenario of coming back to Tampa while I was under this contract, so I think when I was informed of an opportunity it was hard not to be excited about it,” McDonagh said. on a video call with reporters. “There are still a handful of guys on this team that are proven winners. This core group is a special group, and being back with them is hard not to make you believe again that something special can be done once again.”
McDonagh played a key role in the Lightning’s Cup runs in 2020 and ’21 and the trip to the final in 2022. They haven’t won a playoff series since then, losing in the first round to Toronto and Florida the last two years.
The reunion with McDonagh gives Tampa Bay a top four that also includes 2020 playoff MVP Victor Hedman, Erik Cernak and Mikhail Sergachev, who missed several months with a broken leg before making a surprise return in the first round.
“The fact that they want to bring me back says a lot,” McDonagh said. “Hopefully it shows the group, the guys that are there, that management is trying to do what they can to improve and continue to make the team the best it can be.”
Coming off a first-round exit, the Predators now have a little more freedom with McDonagh’s $6.75 million cap hit in each of the next two seasons off the books.
“This trade … allows us to continue to make adjustments and improvements to our team throughout the off-season,” Nashville general manager Barry Trotz said. “We want to make decisions that help us build on the success we’ve had in the 2023-24 season by giving us as many weapons as we can, whether it’s younger players on our roster, more impactful draft picks or salary cap flexibility.”
Cap flexibility isn’t something Tampa Bay has had much of lately, hence the McDonagh trade in the first place, but there’s still the question of figuring out what will happen to captain and longtime face of the franchise Steven Stamkos, a pending free agent. . Stamkos and GM Julien BriseBois have expressed a desire to work out a new contract, but until that happens, this is the biggest question facing the organization.
“I can’t say enough good things about him and the importance of getting him back,” McDonagh said. “I hope they find a way to make it happen and we can continue making special memories together here in Tampa.”
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AP Sports Writer Teresa M. Walker in Nashville, Tenn., contributed.
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