During the days leading up to free agency, the Tampa Bay Lightning found themselves in the running for coveted free agent center John Tavares. In addition, their name kept showing up as a possible landing spot for Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlssoon via trade. However, once free agency officially began at noon EST on Sunday, the Bolts took care of business with an extension in-house.
Shortly after the free agent frenzy took off, the Lightning announced a seven-year contract extension for defenseman Ryan McDonagh. Acquired from the New York Rangers at the trade deadline, McDonagh’s deal is worth $47.25 million at an AAV of $6.75 million and begins in the 2019-20 season. McDonagh wasn’t the only former Ranger to sign an extension with the Lightning this off-season. J.T. Miller, who arrived with McDonagh in that same trade, put pen to paper on a five-year deal worth $5.25 million annually.
In addition to the money, McDonagh locked up some long-term security for himself and his family in the process. Per The Athletic’s Joe Smith:
The Ryan McDonagh deal has a full no-trade until January 2026. #tblightning
— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithTB) July 1, 2018
The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun also points out that no signing bonuses are involved in McDonagh’s extension:
Ryan McDonagh year by year breakdown: $8.4 M, $5.46 M, $8.4 M, $5.46 M, $8.4 M, $6.93 M, $4.2 M. All salary, no signing bonuses
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) July 1, 2018
With McDonagh locked up, the future of the Lightning’s blue line is beginning to take shape.
The top of the back end for the Bolts will feature McDonagh, reigning Norris Trophy-winner Victor Hedman (signed through 2024-25 at a $7.825 million AAV), and Mikhail Sergachev (two years left on his entry-level deal). Anton Stralman, Braydon Coburn, and Dan Girardi each have one year remaining on their deals before becoming unrestricted free agents. It’s a strong possibility the Lightning only keep one of those players or let all three of them walk next summer.
This contract poses an interesting risk since McDonagh just turned 29 on June 13. He’ll be 30 when his extension kicks in a year from now, and while the cap hit isn’t terribly exorbitant, the length of the deal certainly raises a few eyebrows. Over the years, hockey fans have witnessed their share of long-term deals that didn’t quite work out. While McDonagh still has plenty left to offer, the question remains whether or not this is going to be a deal the team regrets four or five years down the road.
At first glance, it looks like this extension takes the Lightning out of the running for Karlsson and still leaves questions about other contracts needed in the near future.
Next year, Nikita Kucherov is expected to receive a huge raise, while Brayden Point‘s ELC runs out and Yanni Gourde will be an unrestricted free agent. In addition to Sergachev’s ELC ending in the summer of 2020, Andrei Vasilevskiy will also be in line for a pay hike that same summer. It’s hard to picture the Lightning making any more big moves for the rest of this offseason, as they’ll enter 2018-19 as one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. However, a salary cap crunch could be coming for the Bolts over the next couple of years.
