Predators land McDonagh, Lightning gain salary cap room

The Tampa Bay Lightning may not be the Stanley Cup champion anymore, but they are still masters of managing the salary cap. lightning trading Ryan McDonagh To The Predators in a move that opens up a large payroll space for Tampa Bay.

Predators receive: Ryan McDonagh, 33, $6.75 million reached 2025-26.

Receive lightning: Philip Myers25, and Grant Mismash.

Myers is supposed to calculate $2.55 million over the cap. However, due to some quirks in the salary cap, the buyout could be Add To salary cap savings at McDonagh Trading.

This would result in #gobolts Having created $7,366,666 in cover space for themselves next season.

McDonagh $6.75 Million + Myers Balance $617,000 = $7.37 Millionhttps://t.co/qIBiAOS50x https://t.co/PVTfDN9Dnm

– CapFri Friendly (CapFriendly) 3 July 2022

Then again, maybe not? Chris Johnston reports that lightning may keep Myers:

it does not seem so #TBLightning It would use a buyout on Philip Myers until I thought it would come up with a credit cap for 2022-23. Today’s trade still gives them $4.2 million in relief with Myers on next year’s NHL roster.

– Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) 3 July 2022

Lightning pulls Band-Aid to unlock salary cap space

McDonagh’s trade is a big part of Lightning who’s running another tough season with the free agent’s salary cap/questions cap. Recently, Lightning somewhat surprisingly signed Nicholas Poole with a long contract.

It remains to be seen if Lightning has opened up enough salary cap space to retain the free agent Ondrej Balat.

In reality, though, the salary cap savings may be more important to Lightning’s long-term outlook.

Key members in the middle of the Prime Minister Anthony CirelliAnd the Mikhail SergeachevAnd the Eric Cernack They all need new contracts (and potentially big increases) after next season. Given the long duration of McDonagh’s decade, this creates a potentially pivotal breathing room.

Of course, Lightning will miss Ryan McDonagh. During their bid for the “three peat” Stanley Cup, McDonagh topped all Lightning players in ice playoff time with equal strength (19:12) and on penalties (3:07). These are tough minutes to replace.

Ryan McDonagh (traded with Nashville) is a 2/thirds defender who has a strong 5v5 defensive line but is not useful on penalty kicks. pic.twitter.com/ZC2muEXpsy

– Micah Blake McCurdy (IneffectiveMath) 3 July 2022

But when you’re a competitive team, you simply have to make those kinds of calls.

McDonagh trading from a predator’s perspective

Honestly, at first blush, I hated McDonagh trade for predators.

Yes, the 33-year-old was an amazing, at times number one linebacker in the NHL. However, it is hard to shake off the feeling that it is in a worrying downtrend.

While there’s nothing wrong with that (Father Time trumps everyone, even Jaromir Jäger [allegedly]), predators now bear this risk. Years of wear and tear from deep running with the Rangers and Lightning bolts couldn’t help fix things.

Interestingly, the various metrics are at least friendlier or stricter towards McDonagh. for example, McDonagh Three Years Player Card from Evolution Hockey Doesn’t look promising.

However, J Fresh’s dive into the exact stats and different versions of the metrics inspires at least more optimism.

Here are microstats for Ryan McDonagh 2021-22, courtesy of AllThreeZones.

Nothing to complain about here, solid zone exits, still a bit of an offensive contribution too. # prey pic.twitter.com/pFNHqVXGus

– JFresh (@JFreshHockey) 3 July 2022

However, it’s hard to shake off the idea that predators are headed for some really rough times.

Incredible like roman joussi It was last season, and he is already 32 years old. Matthias Ekholm32, as well. This is a very old trio of defensemen, racking up nearly $22 million in cover space and plenty of range.

Forsberg’s situation still matters to Nashville

If predators kept Philip Forsbergmuch of what seemed like a sneaky promising cover space (Cap Friendly is currently bidding about $18.11 million with just a few spots to fill) will go. If not… why invest in McDonagh?

How promising would Predators 2021-22 look if you add McDonagh, but you make everyone a year older? If the Predators end up being a clear break contender, McDonagh is the kind of defender who can help you out greatly in those situations. If not, GM David Poile has added another elderly player to his expensive list that looks pretty outdated.

Also: Even if Lightning stuck with Myers, it’s also possible that Nashville got more in a deal in exchange for his unusual contract.

Time will tell if the predators end up happily with McDonagh’s trade, but it’s part of the business arranged (albeit painfully) by Lightning. Especially if they are already practicing buying Myers.