Lightning To Activate Ryan McDonagh
The long-awaited return of defenseman Ryan McDonagh has come to pass. According to team insider Erik Erlendsson, the Tampa Bay Lightning are expected to activate McDonagh ahead of tonight’s game against the Winnipeg Jets.
Much has already been made of McDonagh’s 2025-26 campaign. The 16-year veteran has suffered multiple injuries, missing nearly two months of action altogether. In the year, McDonagh has only appeared in 18 games for the Bolts, scoring four goals and eight points with a +1 rating, averaging 20 minutes of ice time per game.
Still, even without one of their top four defenseman, the team hasn’t blinked. During McDonagh’s first absence from November 12th to December 15th, Tampa Bay earned a record of 10-7-1 in 18 games. Since December 22nd, during McDonagh’s second absence, the Lightning have managed a 13-1-1 record in 15 games. Their outlook for the year should improve if McDonagh shows consistency in the lineup for the rest of the season.
Given that Tampa Bay’s defensive core has played so well this year without multiple names, it would be in the team’s best interest to slow-play McDonagh’s return as much as they can. He has been consistently reliable over the past few years, participating in 70 or more games each season since the 2021-22 campaign. However, especially since he’s the oldest player on the team, the Lightning can’t afford for injuries to become a theme for McDonagh.
It’s important to note that the Lightning signed McDonagh to a three-year, $12.3MM extension toward the beginning of December. The contract will take him through the 2028-29 campaign, his age-39 season. Given that Tampa Bay typically operates fairly close to the salary cap’s upper limit, they’ll need McDonagh in the lineup more often than not, making his recovery process one of the most important on the team.
Injury Notes: Wild, McDonagh, Huberdeau
The Minnesota Wild could have a few reinforcements for their upcoming game tonight against the Detroit Red Wings. According to NHL reporter Jessi Pierce, Zach Bogosian, Matt Boldy, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Marcus Johansson all took part in Minnesota’s practice this morning.
Pierce went on to indicate that both Eriksson Ek and Johansson could return to the lineup tonight. Unfortunately, Bogosian and Boldy will remain on the sidelines. In the latter’s defense, given the stipulations of putting a player on the injured reserve, Boldy would be ineligible for tonight’s contest regardless of how he feels.
The Wild could certainly use the help. After having an outstanding record through November and December, Minnesota has stalled of late, managing a 4-4-2 record in January. If Eriksson Ek and Johansson return tonight, the Wild would have two of their top four scorers back in the lineup.
Additional injury notes:
- The long-awaited return of Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh is on the horizon. According to team insider Erik Erlendsson, McDonagh’s recovery timeline has been upgraded to day-to-day, and head coach Jon Cooper guaranteed that he would play before the upcoming Olympic break. Due to varying injuries, the Lightning have been without McDonagh for most of the 2025-26 campaign. The 16-year veteran has registered four goals and eight points in 18 games on the year, averaging 20 minutes of ice time per game.
- According to Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg, winger Jonathan Huberdeau will return to the lineup tomorrow night for the Calgary Flames. The former Calder Trophy winner missed the Flames’ most recent game due to a lower-body injury.
Atlantic Notes: Lundell, Sabourin, DeBoer, McDonagh
As expected, some additional punishment has come from last night’s battle of Florida between the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced that it has fined Anton Lundell $5,000 for high-sticking Jake Guentzel and Scott Sabourin $2,018.23 for slashing Niko Mikkola (X Link). Each punishment was the maximum allowable under the current CBA.
Interestingly enough, Sabourin was the only one of the two to earn a penalty on the play in question. The game ended with a combined 136 PIMs and 15 power plays. Sabourin accounted for 26 of those penalty minutes due to the slashing penalty, a roughing penalty, and a game misconduct.
Aside from last night’s fireworks, the Lightning had another game today as they matched up against the Montreal Canadiens. Unfortunately, Sabourin will not finish the game, as Tampa Bay announced that he has exited the contest with an undisclosed injury.
Other notes from the Atlantic Division:
- Despite General Manager Brad Treliving recently giving head coach Craig Berube a vote of confidence for the second half of the season, there has been plenty of speculation regarding his future tenure with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Much of that speculation has been driven by the availability of Pete DeBoer, who recently coached the Dallas Stars to three consecutive Western Conference Finals. Although some in Toronto may be wishing for DeBoer, he doesn’t appear to want the job. In a recent article from Nick Barden of The Hockey News, it was highlighted that DeBoer sent a text to Berube recently, indicating that he wasn’t involved in any of the speculation.
- Back in Tampa Bay, the team has again placed veteran defenseman Ryan McDonagh on the injured reserve after reaggravating the injury that has plagued him throughout much of the season. Unfortunately, there’s no indication he’ll return anytime soon. Earlier today, team reporter Gabby Shirley shared that McDonagh is “a little bit more than ‘day to day'”. The vagueness of the report suggests that the Lightning may still be evaluating McDonagh for a clearer picture of his recovery timeline.
Lightning Activate Brandon Hagel From Injured Reserve
12:02 p.m.: McDonagh in fact won’t be available tonight. He’s been placed on injured reserve while defenseman Maxim Groshev was recalled from Syracuse in the corresponding move for Santini’s demotion, the team announced. While Groshev’s been recalled multiple times this season without making his NHL debut, that will change as he’s one of only six defensemen on Tampa’s active roster.
11:32 a.m.: The Lightning have activated left winger Brandon Hagel from injured reserve, Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider reports. Tampa returned defenseman Steven Santini to AHL Syracuse in the corresponding move, indicating Ryan McDonagh could be back in the lineup after sitting out last night’s win over the Panthers with an undisclosed injury.
Hagel has been dealing with an upper-body injury since the Bolts’ second-most recent rivalry game against Florida back on Dec. 15. He’s missed the last four games and nearly two weeks as a result. They’ll welcome him back to the lineup this evening against the Canadiens.
The 27-year-old is now in his fifth season in Tampa, continuing to pay dividends after they gave up a steep package to acquire him from the Blackhawks at the 2022 trade deadline. He’s continued to hover near a point per game with an 18-15–31 scoring line in 32 appearances this season. Named to the league’s second All-Star Team last year while finishing top 10 in Selke voting, Hagel’s 121 points in 114 games since the beginning of 2024-25 are tied with Lucas Raymond for 20th in the league.
Tampa dealt with his absence quite well, though. They went 3-1-0 in four games without him while outscoring opponents 15-9, scoring four-plus goals three times. His return will give the Bolts a fully healthy forward group for just the third time this season.
With Erik Černák, Victor Hedman, and Emil Martinsen Lilleberg on IR, Santini was summoned yesterday to fill the gap after they received word that McDonagh couldn’t go. The 30-year-old saw 7:58 of ice time in what was his ninth appearance of the season for Tampa Bay, recording a +1 rating with a hit and a block.
The injury keeping McDonagh out of action was a re-aggravation of the undisclosed issue that sidelined him for over a month, head coach Jon Cooper said yesterday. He returned to play in three straight before the holiday break, but evidently needed some more load management before getting back into the lineup. Whether the extra day of rest ends up being enough to get him back to 100% – or at least healthy enough to play every night – will be something to watch.
Image courtesy of Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images.
Lightning Recall Scott Sabourin And Steven Santini
Tampa Bay and Florida have played some particularly physical games in recent memory. With the next matchup slated for tonight, the Lightning have brought up some extra grit, announcing the recalls of winger Scott Sabourin and defenseman Steven Santini from AHL Syracuse.
Sabourin has only played in seven games with Tampa Bay this season despite several recalls. Three of those have come against the Panthers, which doesn’t include the preseason where he received a four-game suspension for an incident against Florida. The 33-year-old has actually been somewhat productive in his limited action, picking up a goal and two assists along with 13 hits and 32 penalty minutes despite averaging just 9:17 per night of playing time.
Sabourin is on a one-year, two-way deal with Tampa Bay and has spent the bulk of the year with the Crunch. In 20 games with them, he has six goals and two assists, putting him on pace for double-digit goals in the minors for what would be the fourth straight season.
As for Santini, he has suited up eight times for the Lightning so far in 2025-26, his highest NHL games played total since the 2018-19 campaign. The 30-year-old has one assist to his name so far this season along with six hits while averaging 12:01 per night.
The veteran is in the first season of a two-year, two-way deal signed back in June and has also spent the majority of the year in Syracuse. In 18 games with the Crunch so far, Santini has five assists.
Santini may take the place of veteran Ryan McDonagh in the lineup tonight. Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times relayed (Twitter link) that the veteran did not take part in today’s morning skate and has re-aggravated his previous injury. Head coach Jon Cooper listed McDonagh as out day-to-day.
The team had two open roster spots so no further roster movement was necessary to add the two and their roster now sits at the maximum of 23 players.
Lightning Activate Ryan McDonagh From Injured Reserve
4:12 p.m.: While not a necessity to activate McDonagh, the Bolts still took his return as motivation to reassign defenseman Steven Santini to Syracuse, per a team announcement. The 30-year-old was recalled Monday in the wake of Lilleberg’s injury and skated 12 minutes against the Panthers that evening, posting zeroes across the board. Santini has now appeared in eight games for the Bolts this season between call-ups, recording one assist and a respectable 50.4% share of shot attempts at even strength.
1:05 p.m.: Two-time Stanley Cup champion Ryan McDonagh has been activated from injured reserve and will be in the Lightning’s lineup on Thursday evening versus the Kings, Erik Erlendsson of Lightning Insider reports. Tampa had an open roster spot after reassigning Scott Sabourin to AHL Syracuse earlier in the week.
McDonagh, who has missed the past 18 games due to an undisclosed injury, had his no-contact designation removed during Monday’s practice as part of his ramp-up toward a return. Since he’s been a full participant for a few days, he shouldn’t have a meaningful minutes restriction as he slots back into the lineup.
The 36-year-old defenseman has been limited to 15 games this season. The activation ends the ever-durable rearguard’s most extended absence of his 16-year NHL career. After finishing 14th in Norris Trophy voting last season with a league-high +43 rating, he’s continued to play at a top-pairing level in 2025-26 while technically still serving behind Victor Hedman as the second-pairing lefty on Tampa’s depth chart. Averaging north of 20 minutes per game for the 15th straight year, he recorded six points and a +1 rating while serving as the Bolts’ top penalty killer.
He’s the second household name returning to Tampa’s lineup for tonight’s game. Starting netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy was activated from IR earlier in the week after a seven-game absence.
McDonagh’s insertion into the lineup is crucial at a time when the Bolts still have three regular defenders – Hedman, Erik Černák, and Emil Martinsen Lilleberg – on IR. The pileup of injuries had finally seemed to have caught up with the Lightning, who are 2-5-1 in December and have slipped to third in the Atlantic Division, although they’re still first by points percentage (.591).
East Notes: McDonagh, Kane, Pieniniemi
The Tampa Bay Lightning have had to manage this season with a large portion of key defensemen injured, but it appears one important veteran is closing in on a return to the ice. Lightning team reporter Benjamin Pierce relayed word from Lightning practice this morning that Ryan McDonagh skated today in a regular jersey, a key milestone in his recovery from his undisclosed injury. McDonagh remains on IR, where he has been since early November.
McDonagh, 36, played in 15 games this season before his injury, scoring six points. The 1,025-game veteran has missed Tampa Bay’s last 17 games due to his injury, an absence that has forced the Lightning to rely on less accomplished defensemen such as Charle-Edouard D’Astous and Emil Lilleberg. D’Astous especially has acquitted himself well, but expect McDonagh to resume his regular top-four role once he’s healthy. In 15 games this season, McDonagh averaged just over 20 minutes of ice time per game and leads the team in short-handed time on ice per game.
Other notes from the Eastern Conference:
- The Athletic’s Max Bultman reported today that Detroit Red Wings veteran Patrick Kane “tweaked something” upper-body during Detroit’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks, and is out for at least the next two games. Kane, a future Hall of Fame winger, is a key offensive producer for the Red Wings. He has 23 points in 24 games this season and as one might expect plays a significant role on the club’s power play. The Red Wings slotted John Leonard into Kane’s vacated second-line right winger role, per MLive’s Ansar Khan. Leonard was an AHL All-Star last season and has scored 19 goals and 29 points in 20 games for the Grand Rapids Griffins this year.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins lifted their suspension of prospect Emil Pieniniemi, according to Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports, as a result of the blueliner’s newfound willingness to report to the club’s ECHL affiliate, the Wheeling Nailers. Per Rorabaugh, while the Penguins presented Pieniniemi with a development plan, the player “disagreed with that plan” and elected to train in his native Finland, with Liiga club Karpat, rather than play in the ECHL. Now, it appears Pieniniemi will report to the ECHL and begin his season there. A 2023 third-round pick, Pieniniemi was ranked the No. 20 prospect in the Penguins’ system before the season by Elite Prospects. While the ECHL isn’t typically seen as a prime league to develop skater prospects, Penguins GM Kyle Dubas has shown an increased level of willingness to send prospects to the ECHL, dating back to his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Toronto’s 2017 first-round pick Timothy Liljegren played an ECHL game in 2018-19 and the Penguins have had defensive prospect Finn Harding, who the club reportedly thinks highly of, play seven games for Wheeling so far in 2025-26.
Lightning Notes: Finley, Vasilevskiy, McDonagh, James
The Lightning announced that they have assigned forward Jack Finley to AHL Syracuse on a conditioning stint. The stint can last for up to two weeks but he will remain on Tampa Bay’s active roster while on assignment.
The 23-year-old has played in 11 games for the Lightning this season but has only suited up twice over the past nine contests. He has a goal and an assist in those outings along with 18 hits but is only averaging 8:49 of playing time per game. Waiver-eligible for the first time this season, this assignment allows him to get a few games in with the Crunch where he can have a more prominent role in the lineup.
More from Tampa Bay:
- There could be some good news on the horizon on the injury front as Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times provided updates on several players. First, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy won’t return on Saturday but could be an option to start on Monday against Florida. He has missed a little more than a week with an undisclosed injury. The hope was that he wouldn’t be out for long but he ultimately landed on IR to allow for Brandon Halverson’s recall. Vasilevskiy has had a very strong start to the season with a 2.31 GAA and a .916 SV% in 19 starts so far.
- Meanwhile, defenseman Ryan McDonagh did some individual skating drills as he works his way back from a leg injury that has kept him out for more than a month. Following practice, head coach Jon Cooper upgraded him to day-to-day. The 36-year-old, who recently signed a three-year extension, has been his usual steady self when in the lineup, averaging over 20 minutes a night. With Victor Hedman out long-term again, McDonagh nearing a return will be crucial for a back end that has been beaten up this season.
- Lastly, rookie center Dominic James was a full participant in practice and could be an option to return on Saturday against the Islanders. If not, he should be back for Monday’s contest versus Florida. The 23-year-old signed with Tampa Bay this past offseason after declining to sign with Chicago, who drafted him back in 2022. After a good start in the minors, James was recalled less than two weeks into the season and has been up ever since. He has five points in 18 games so far and has missed the last three games with an undisclosed injury.
Lightning Sign Ryan McDonagh To Three-Year Extension
3:20 p.m.: PuckPedia have reported some new details regarding the specific financial terms of McDonagh’s three-year extension. The structure of the contract remains the same in all three years of its duration: $3.1MM base salary, $1MM signing bonus, and a full no-movement clause.
PuckPedia also noted that because this deal includes signing bonuses beyond its first year, it is considered a 35+ contract. As a result, the Lightning are eligible to buy out this contract, but doing so would not provide them with any cap relief.
7:35 a.m.:The Lightning announced they’ve signed defenseman Ryan McDonagh to a three-year extension. The deal, which keeps him in Tampa through the 2028-29 season, is worth $12.3MM for an average annual value of $4.1MM. Instead of testing the unrestricted free agent market next summer, he’ll stay with the club where he won championships in 2020 and 2021.
It’s a nice gift for the veteran rearguard, who remains out with an undisclosed injury that’s kept him out of the lineup for over three weeks. While the deal takes him through his age-39 season, McDonagh has so far defied the aging curve. He was arguably the NHL’s top shutdown defenseman last season, posting a league-high +43 rating and controlling 51.9% of expected goals at 5-on-5 despite seeing 264 defensive zone starts compared to 160 offensive zone starts. On top of that, his 4-27–31 scoring line remained nearly in line with his career average and marked the eighth time in his 16-year career that he’s crossed the 30-point plateau.
That was McDonagh’s first season back in Tampa after a two-year absence. Following their third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final in 2022, a loss to the Avalanche, he had completed the third year of the seven-year, $47.25MM extension he signed with the Bolts in 2019. He was still viewed as a high-end top-four piece at the time, but his offensive production had taken somewhat of a hit since signing the extension. He was coming off a career-best 46 points in 82 games and an eighth-place finish in Norris Trophy voting before the deal went into effect, but he averaged just four goals and 24 points per 82 games over the following three seasons. That led Tampa to make him and his $6.75MM cap hit a cap dump under a still relatively flat cap environment, asking him to waive his no-trade clause. He accepted a move to the Predators, who brought him in at full price in exchange for a pair of depth skaters.
McDonagh’s play in Nashville was more of the same steady, two-way hockey that the former Rangers captain has played from the start. Across two years with the Preds, he racked up 52 points and a +31 rating in 145 games, serving as their top penalty killer and averaging more than 21 minutes of ice time per game. In the 2024 offseason, the Lightning, armed with more cap flexibility, needed repair on the blue line after allowing 3.26 goals per game, their worst defensive performance in 12 years. The Predators were happy to return McDonagh to the Bolts, landing a second-round pick for their trouble after acquiring him for nothing of value.
The 36-year-old still looked like a natural fit in a top-four workload before sustaining his injury in a game against the Capitals on Nov. 8. Through 15 appearances, he was averaging 20:10 of ice time per game – a figure brought down by his early departure from the Washington outing – and had rattled off three goals and three assists for six points with a +1 rating. His usual even-strength pairing with Erik Černák also serves as the Bolts’ top shorthanded duo.
Under the hood, there’s very little cause for concern. McDonagh is perhaps the best case study in the league for quality over quantity on defense. He’s still receiving an extremely skewed workload toward the defensive zone at 5-on-5. Naturally, that means he’s getting shelled in shot attempts, only controlling 49.4% of them to rank fifth-worst among Bolts skaters with at least 10 appearances. The shot attempts they’re allowing with him on the ice, though, amount to a high volume of low-danger chances. McDonagh’s 58.0% share of expected goals at 5-on-5 ranks fifth-best on the Lightning. They also only allow 8.8 high-danger chances per 60 minutes with McDonagh on the ice at 5-on-5, which is also the fifth-best mark on the team.
With that type of value, the Lightning understandably wanted to make sure the steady McDonagh was retained behind an also-aging Victor Hedman as they squeeze what they can out of their championship contention window. At a significant discount that’s just a few ticks over the league-average salary, getting him locked in without submitting to a crushing contract length that takes him into his 40s is also a real win for Tampa GM Julien BriseBois.
Barring trades, the Bolts’ defense is virtually locked in for next season. Alongside McDonagh, Hedman, Černák, Emil Martinsen Lilleberg, and Maxwell Crozier are also signed through at least next year on one-way deals, while breakout defender J.J. Moser is a pending restricted free agent and will be back. They also boast one of the most advantageous cap situations in the league, particularly for a team in win-now mode. With a total cap commitment of $81.92MM on the books for 2026-27 to 20 roster players, that leaves them over $22MM in projected space to fill just three spots, per PuckPedia.
Image of Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images.
Lightning Place Ryan McDonagh On Injured Reserve
The Lightning have placed defenseman Ryan McDonagh on injured reserve, per the league’s media site. The lefty departed Saturday’s win over the Capitals with an undisclosed injury. Placing McDonagh on IR only rules him out for tomorrow’s game against the Rangers, but head coach Jon Cooper told reporters earlier today he expects McDonagh to miss a few contests (via the team’s Benjamin Pierce).
McDonagh joins center Dominic James as Bolts skaters who were banged up against Washington and are landing on IR today. The placements will give the Bolts roster space to make corresponding recalls from AHL Syracuse in advance of tomorrow’s contest, although they’ll likely wait until Wednesday morning to announce those. Not only are James and McDonagh out, but captain Victor Hedman and depth forward Pontus Holmberg also sustained undisclosed injuries against the Caps and are listed as day-to-day and doubtful for tomorrow, according to the team’s Gabby Shirley. That’s four players sustaining injuries in one game for those keeping score at home.
As things stand, the Bolts can ice 18 skaters tomorrow without Hedman and Holmberg but won’t have any extras. Still, that assumes Anthony Cirelli – who practiced today but missed the Washington game with an upper-body injury – and defenseman Maxwell Crozier, who’s missed two games with an undisclosed issue, will be cleared to play. With McDonagh on IR now, Tampa can make two recalls from Syracuse without more corresponding moves.
McDonagh is the Bolts’ No. 3 defender this season in terms of usage at 20:10 per game, but he’s still playing like a top-pairing threat in his age-36 season. The 16-year vet is fresh off receiving his first Norris votes in six years and has started this year strong with three goals, six points, and a +1 rating in 15 outings. He ranks third on the team with 26 blocks and leads Tampa defenders with six takeaways.
The increasing injury problems make the Bolts’ recent 7-1-0 surge to get back into a playoff position all the more important after starting the year 1-4-2. They’ll look to depth names like Crozier and Charle-Edouard D’Astous to step up and help mitigate the damage, which shouldn’t be too tall of a task against a Rangers offense that’s been limited to 2.41 goals per game this season.