Tampa Bay Lightning trade Ryan McDonagh to Nashville Predators

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In order to clear space under the NHL salary cap, the Bolts traded Ryan McDonagh to the Preds.

The Bolts got the 33-year-old McDonagh, who nixed his no-trade clause, from the Preds in exchange for the two forwards. McDonagh has four more seasons left on his contract.

"If we didn't live in a flat salary-cap world, it would never have crossed my mind to ask Ryan McDonagh to waive his no-trade clause because I would have been ecstatic to know that I had him under contract for four more years."

BriseBois had a face-to-face meeting with McDonagh.

"Not the most pleasant thing I've had to do, but I'm sure it was even more uncomfortable for him because he didn't want to leave the Lightning," BriseBois said.

The man played 71 games and had 26 points. He averaged 17:50 in ice time at 5-on-5 this season, which was his highest rate in four years. He averaged 1.04 points per 60 minutes at 5-on-5.

The Rangers traded McDonagh to the Bolts in February of last year. He was an important part of their back-to-back Stanley Cup victories.

After losing to the Colorado Avs in the Stanley Cup Final, the Lightning talked to Ryan McDonagh about waiving his trade protection, which would allow them to re-sign Ondrej Palat.

BriseBois said that it gave them the flexibility to potentially re-sign Palat or address holes on the free-agent market or the trade market. Those holes could be filled from inside the organization.

It allows us to make sure we extend it. We freed up some cap space for this year, 2022-23, but more importantly we freed up some cap space for the next two decades, which I hope will allow us to get the rights to Anthony Cirelli and others.

In the summer of last year, Ryan Ellis was traded to the Nashville Preds. He averaged 14:52 in ice time with Nashville. Buying out the last year of the deal would give the team a $616,666 cap credit for next season and $633,334 in dead cap space in the next two seasons.

BriseBois said that the plan is to work with the player who has one season left against the cap.

He went back to his junior days. The tool box is something we like. He was liked by us in Philadelphia. BriseBois said that things didn't work out for him in Philadelphia and Nashville. His age is 25 years old. He is a 6-foot-5 defensive player with some physical strength. He's good at skating. In the past, we have been able to improve his skating by working with players. He has a big chance. We think we can work with him and help him reach his potential because of the many tools there.

Mismash scored six goals and had 12 points in his first season for the Milwaukee Admirals in the American Hockey League. The University of North Dakota is where he was born.

The cap hit for the trio of defensemen is over $6 million. They have 18 players under contract and $18 million in cap space. Ahead of unrestricted free agency, a leading scorer is still unsigned.