McDonagh gearing up to return to Lightning at training camp

Veteran defenseman focusing ‘really hard’ after being traded to former team by Predators

EDINA, Minn. — Ryan McDonagh is a little more than a week away from returning to Florida to get ready for training camp with the Tampa Bay Lightning next month.

And with the 35-year-old defenseman set to begin his second stint with the Lightning, he said he’s never been more focused for a training camp in his NHL career, which is entering its 15th season.

“When an organization puts their faith back in you, that speaks a lot to me,” McDonagh said Wednesday at Da Beauty League, a 4-on-4 summer league featuring collegiate and NHL players with ties to Minnesota. “So, you try to do what you can to be as prepared as you can and focus really hard on skating a lot, getting to the gym and just getting mentally prepared for a big role.”

McDonagh was acquired in a trade with the Nashville Predators on May 21 with a fourth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft for a seventh-round pick in 2024 and a second-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.

He played five seasons for the Lightning and filled a central role on the their Stanley Cup-winning teams in 2020 and 2021, including having an-NHL high plus-18 rating and eight assists in 23 games in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“It’s a very special place for me and my family,” McDonagh said. “Two of my kids were born there. Between that and winning, those were some big moments I had there. And it’s a great community. A great place to raise your kids and a great market to play hockey, with an organization that’s behind you. They’re always going to go for the Cup, so it’s fun to be a part of that again.”

McDonagh was originally traded to the Lightning by the New York Rangers on Feb. 26, 2018, with forward J.T. Miller for forwards Vladislav Namestnikov and Brett Howden, defenseman Libor Hajek, a first-round pick in the 2018 NHL Draft and a conditional pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.

He was later traded to Nashville by Tampa Bay for defenseman Philippe Myers and forward prospect Grant Mismash on July 3, 2022. McDonagh had 32 points (three goals, 29 assists) and 139 blocked shots in 74 regular-season games last season, his second with the Predators, and one assist in six playoff games.

“Last year was a heck of a season for us,” McDonagh said of the Predators (47-30-5), who finished fourth in the Central Division and lost in six games to the Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference First Round. “We were probably counted out by a lot of hockey analysts out there, but we put together a good run, and it was something to be proud of for sure.

“There’s no question that they’re going to be a team to beat this year.”

The Lightning added forwards Jake Guentzel (traded from Carolina Hurricanes), Cam Atkinson (one-year, $900,000 contract) and Zemgus Girgensons (three-year, $2.55 million contract; $850,000 average annual value) this offseason to join familiar faces Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli up front.

But McDonagh will have to make a third Cup push with the Lightning without longtime teammate Steven Stamkos. The former Tampa Bay captain signed a four-year, $32 million contract ($8 million AAV) with Nashville on July 1. Stamkos played 16 seasons with Tampa Bay and is its leader in goals (555), points (1,137) and games (1,082). The 34-year-old forward had 81 points (40 goals, 41 assists) in 79 games last season and six points (five goals, one assist) in five playoff games for the Lightning (45-29-8), who finished fourth in the Atlantic Division and lost in five games to the eventual-champion Florida Panthers in the Eastern Conference First Round.

“That’s the business side of hockey,” McDonagh said. “Sometimes things don’t go according to the way you think it will. Specifically, for him, I can’t speak for him, but I’m sure he wanted to stay. But I know he’s thrilled about Nashville, too. It’s a great opportunity for him, and a great team down there, too. But for us, we have to move forward and put faith in our group and trust the coaching staff to put together a good game plan to fill that void left by ‘Stammer.’ And that’s what we’ll do. Just keep building from Day One of camp.”

That is when that Cup push starts for McDonagh and the Lightning.

“We have a lot of firepower throughout our lineup,” McDonagh said. “We kind of already have an identity established moving forward, but it’s also a different group in a sense. But it’s a group that we know we can build with and write our own story together.

“It doesn’t happen overnight, but if you stick with it, good things can happen. I can’t wait to get started.”