Lightning sign Ryan McDonagh to 3-year, $12.3M extension

TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed veteran defenseman Ryan McDonagh to a three-year extension worth $12.3 million.

General manager Julien BriseBois announced the deal Thursday. McDonagh will be 37 when the new contract kicks in; it counts $4.1 million against the salary cap through the 2028-29 season.

McDonagh helped the Lightning win back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021 and reach the Final in 2022 before losing in six games to the Colorado Avalanche.

They traded him to the Nashville Predators that summer to clear cap space at a time when it was not going up much because of the pandemic and reacquired him in 2024.

Record cap increases will have McDonagh account for less than 4% of the cap each of the next three years.

McDonagh is currently injured, one of several players Tampa Bay has been missing, along with No. 1 defenseman Victor Hedman. The team has still won 16 of 26 games and leads the Atlantic Division.