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

By Canadian Press on December 4, 2025.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — 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 that counts $4.1 million against the salary cap through the 2028-29 NHL season.

McDonagh helped the Lightning win the Stanley Cup back to back in 2020 and ’21 and reach the final in ’22 before losing in six games to Colorado.

They traded him to Nashville 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.

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The Associated Press