Why Nashville Predators GM Barry Trotz decided to trade Ryan McDonagh to Tampa Bay

Nashville Predators general manager Barry Trotz started the offseason with a shocker on Tuesday, sending Ryan McDonagh to the Tampa Bay Lightning and clearing nearly $7 million in cap room for the next two seasons.

Trotz said the inception of the trade, however, was less about clearing cap room and more about "doing the right thing" for McDonagh.

"It was a request from Ryan," Trotz said Tuesday. "We talked a little bit at the end of the year. He said if there's ever an opportunity to get back to Tampa, he asked if I would explore that a little bit. So, out of respect for the type of person that (McDonagh) is, I talked to (Tampa) and we made I think a fair deal."

McDonagh, who turns 35 next month, was traded to Tampa from the New York Rangers at the deadline in 2018. He signed a seven-year, $47 million contract with the Lightning, whom he helped win two Stanley Cups (2020, 2021).

In summer 2022, then-Predators general manager David Poile acquired McDonagh from Tampa in exchange for Philippe Myers and Grant Mismash. The move was a salary cap dump by the Lightning at the time, but McDonagh has always called Tampa home, even when in Nashville.

"(McDonagh's) got so many good memories of his time in Tampa," Trotz said. "That's probably where him and his wife are going to settle. He's been such a fantastic leader and someone I have so much respect for. Do the right thing. There's sometimes in this game you try to do the right thing for good people."

Doing the right thing for a player is an honorable move, especially for someone like McDonagh, who is universally respected. But the reality is the Predators save nearly $7 million in salary cap room the next two seasons, and they're offloading one of their only contracts that had a no-trade clause.

Apparently that didn't play into the decision to trade McDonagh.

"To me, (the cap room) wasn't much of a factor. It was more of doing the right thing. We both talked about it, he just said what he wanted to do. It was nothing more than that. You've got to have the interest and Tampa had the interest. Fortunately it worked out, it's going to work out for both teams," Trotz said.

He did admit the team will have more flexibility to make moves this summer, though he didn't specify what position or players.

"We will maybe be a little more active in some free agents that we weren't considered to be in," Trotz said.

In the McDonagh deal, the Predators acquired a second-round pick in 2025 and a seventh-round pick in 2024, and sent Tampa a fourth-round 2024 pick.

According to Cap Friendly, the Predators now have just a little more than $26 million in salary cap space to spend this summer.