What Predator Lightning gains from Ryan McDonough’s deal

It wasn’t the deal Lightning wanted to make, it was the deal they had to make.

Here’s how Elliott Friedman put together rumors around Ryan McDonough last week when he wrote about how teams and players worked together to find the right deal. McDonald’s, a solid shutdown top four defender, has great value for Lightning and will definitely be overlooked. But with the team aiming to re-sign the UFA and re-signing with Nick Paul over the weekend, McDonald’s $ 6.75 million cap hit has become an unmanageable luxury.

There, Lightning found a suitor and McDonald’s agreed to waive Nashville’s ban. Nashville sent Philip Myers and Grant Miss Mash back to Tampa Bay.

This was a salary dumping move for Lightning, regaining $ 2.55 million on Myers’ contract and $ 842,500 on Miss Mash.

However, Lightning has released cap space to maintain Jan Lutta and Ondrey Paratt, which comes at the expense of a solid veteran defenseman.

“He’s one of the best defenders in the NHL. He’s a selfless player and a great leader,” said Lightning GM Julian Brizboa. “Ryan McDonagh is a great person and a great hockey player. He has won many and helped us to win many.”

Probably not the most exciting deal this week, but there are interesting angles on either side of here.

Let’s see what each team is getting from this deal with the help of scout Jason Voorhees.

To Nashville: Ryan McDonough

Looking at this deal, a four-year defense ace in Tampa Bay, you can see a 33-year-old kid earning $ 7 million for another four years, wondering if Lightning was just in time. But from an ice perspective, Lightning quickly misses an average of 22:27 ice hours per game and loses its team-leading presence in penalty kills.

“If we didn’t live in the world of flat salary caps, asking Ryan McDonough to abandon his no-trade wouldn’t bother me,” Blissboa said. Said at a post-trade conference call on Sunday. “I would have been ecstatic to know that he had a contract for another four years.”

Whatever the long-term view you want to take, it’s a projection of something that may or may not happen. In fact, now Lightning loses a reliable defender, and Predator picks up a defender at minimal cost.

The Predators are currently signed by defenders in their early 30s, McDonald’s ($ 6.75M), Roman Yoshi ($ 9.059M) and Matthias Echom ($ 6.25M), at least throughout the next four seasons. increase. They still have about $ 18 million in cap space this summer and room to re-sign Philip Fochberg. And now this definitely doesn’t look like a team ready to take a step back.

Did Predator endorse Lightning here? Indeed, in the sense that it frees Tampa from a tight cap pinch and Brise Bois to do the other business he wants. But there is no mistake. Nashville has a solid advocate here. If the price is so good, I can’t say for sure.

Scout Analysis by Jason Bukara:

“”Nashville Predators has solidified its defense core with the acquisition of Ryan McDonagh. He is a proven winner and a leader who spends more than 20 minutes on ice every game. His minutes are some of the toughest ones every night, and he’s always playing against the top six opponents.He is also a seasoned shot blocker Someone who has a physical pushback.. NHL salary limit strikes again! Predez gets great players without deducting from the lineup.“”

To Tampa Bay: Philip Myers, Grant Miss Mash

Myers focuses here for several reasons.

First, the initial reaction to the trade was based on the expectation that Lightning could buy Myers at a one-third rate (rather than the usual two-thirds) for Myers’ age (instead of the usual two-thirds). twenty five). Lightning will earn great bonus credits from 2022 to 23, which will free up an additional $ 3.166,000 cap space this season. That way, next season we’ll have $ 633,334 cap hits that we wouldn’t get otherwise.

However, BriseBois said he plans to keep Myers and see if he can develop into a nice little discovery and become part of Tampa’s defense group.

“Our plan at this point is to work with Myers,” says Brise Bois. “We loved him going back to his junior days. We really like his toolbox. We like him as a player. He’s only 25 years old and 6 feet 5 And has some size and speed. Work on improving his skates. He has big shots. I think it’s enough to be intriguing enough to work with him. increase.”

Myers was a Philadelphia-signed, undrafted free agent, but arrived in a hype after becoming part of the Canadian silver medal-winning WJC team in 2017. He was part of Canada’s Senior Men’s World Championship team after his second professional season, but he wasn’t. He has solidified his position as a full-time NHLer.

This season, Myers scored 4 points in 27 games against the Predators and 7 points in 16 games against Toronto Marlies.

One interesting thing to consider about Myers is that QMJHL Luine Nolanda’s Gilles Bouchard coach is an assistant to the AHL affiliate of Writing in Syracuse. Myers spent some of his best years under Bushar, leading to his NHL signature.

Scout Analysis by Jason Bukara:

“I’m curious about how Philip Myers’ scenario unfolds in Tampa. Myers hasn’t been able to prove that he’s a reliable full-time NHL defender in a fixed role so far. He’s a big body defender with the right shot. But what is he? It’s hard to explain what Myers really is at this point in his career. Not an offensive threat. He’s tall (6 feet-5, 210 pounds) He doesn’t have enough structure and details to defend. The Defenders abandoned him and went to Toronto Myers with a loan this season. There was a reason to send it. Tampa has a large project to buy Myers. He needs to be stripped and rebuilt.

Grant Miss Mash was the second round pick in Nashville in 2017, which was the first professional season for the left winger from the University of North Dakota. Miss Mash scored 6 goals and 12 points in 57 AHL games.

“At Grant Mismash, Lightning wins players who haven’t done much at the professional level. In the draft year (2017), he courage. At that time, I wasn’t warmed up by Miss Mash, and I never changed my mind. His college career in North Dakota was not an elite. He produced the most at the NCAA level with 9 goals and 13 assists during his freshman season. Miss Mash is a solid skater and he has some backlash against the game. I think the fact that he can play both in the center and in the wings makes him more attractive as a deep addition to Tampa. I was surprised to see him pull the NHL jersey overhead next season. “