The Tampa Bay Lightning have done it again, extending one of their players for a reasonable cap hit. This time it is Ryan McDonagh, who has signed a seven-year extension that carries an average annual value of $6.75MM. The deal will kick in for the 2019-20 season, after the final year of his current contract.
The move allows Tampa Bay to keep their new defensive core. The team acquired McDonagh in a giant trade from the New York Rangers right at the trade deadline this year. The Rangers traded McDonagh, a dominant top-four shutdown defenseman along with J.T. Miller (who already signed an extension) for Vladislav Namestnikov, prospects Brett Howden and Libor Hajek, a 2018 first-round pick and a conditional second-round pick in 2019. While he was coming off an injury when he was traded, he came exactly as advertised, leading the defense’s second unit, while Victor Hedman manned the first.
The seven-year deal should run until McDonagh reaches 36 years of age. However, to get the veteraen defenseman at $6.75MM is a reasonable cost and much lower than some of the other defenseman who have recently signed such as Drew Doughty and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. McDonagh, who is solid two-way defenseman, didn’t post his best offensive numbers between both teams as he combined for four goals and 29 points, but a healthy full season in Tampa Bay should get him back to his regular numbers.
Tampa Bay still has to lock up superstar Nikita Kucherov, who is in the final year of his contract, although he will only become a restricted free agent next season if he gets there, although the general belief is that the Lightning fully expect to sign him to an extension in the next few months.
Damn Mac!
Loaded team.