Full 32 Thoughts to come later…but a quick note on something that’s too long for Twitter.
It’s not news the Tampa Bay Lightning have some very difficult decisions to make. They want to try to keep unrestricted free agents Ondrej Palat and Nick Paul (among others), which is impossible without painful choices elsewhere.
According to multiple sources, the Lightning are working with Ryan McDonagh to see if there’s another team he’d consider a trade to. It’s a very, very hard thing for Tampa to think about. McDonagh’s still a tremendous player (he was on the ice for the last shift to preserve the team’s Game 5 victory in Denver that prolonged the Stanley Cup Final) and is hugely popular among his teammates, who were disappointed to hear of the possibility. It’s not what Tampa wants to do, but may have to do.
McDonagh has four seasons remaining on a cap hit of $6.75M, with a full no-trade clause. So he controls his destiny. We will see where it goes, but there are conversations about the future.
