NHL Free Agency: Grading the Lightning’s signings
Big Money McDonagh
Re-signed Ryan McDonagh to a seven-year deal, $6.75 million AAV
Ryan McDonagh wasn’t schedule to become a free agent until next offseason, but he’s an important piece to the Tampa defense.
McDonagh posted 29 points in 63 games with the Rangers and Lightning last season. His offensive game comes and goes, but he’s shown the ability to be a 40-plus point player on the backend. His real strength is logging big minutes and playing a shutdown role. After a couple of rough seasons in New York, he found new life in Tampa Bay. In his 14 games with the Lightning his Corsi percentage was over 50 percent for the first time since 2013-14.
He’s 29 years old, so this contract might look ugly in the final two seasons, but the cap hit isn’t bad. $6.75 million five years from now will be less than 7 percent of the cap, which is perfectly reasonable for a guy who should still be a top four defenseman, even if he’s beginning to decline.
Right now, this extension is a mid-to-low B, mainly due to the term. If the long rumored Erik Karlsson deal goes through, McDonagh’s extension gets bumped up to an A. Paying your third best defenseman $6.75 million doesn’t sound like a smart investment, but it is when your third best defenseman is better than most teams top defender. Don’t worry if this grade makes sense or not, the Lightning are this close to putting together the best defense in league history. Worry about how your favorite team can be more like Tampa Bay.