Ryan McDonagh’s heart was always in Tampa Bay. The 35-year-old defenseman spent five seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he won two Stanley Cup championships and was part of one of the more dominant NHL runs in recent memory. He never wanted to leave Tampa Bay but was forced out the door two years ago when the cash-strapped Lightning traded him to the Nashville Predators for some much-needed salary cap relief.
But McDonagh approached Predators general manager Barry Trotz this offseason and asked to be traded back to his old team — a request Trotz granted and the Lightning pushed hard for. “He will be hard to replace because he is one of those special humans. ” General manager Barry Trotz explains the reason why he traded Ryan McDonagh back to Tampa pic.
twitter.com/XFw0JDMfC4 And now that he’s back at his old stomping grounds, McDonagh appears to be in a much better headspace than he was at any point the last two seasons. “It’s a very special place for me and my family,” McDonagh recently told Da Beauty League, via NHL.
com. “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.
” Though there’s plenty of familiar faces in the Lightning locker room, the team McDonagh is joining doesn�.