McDonagh Trade by Nashville May Have Selfishly Assisted in Making Stamkos a UFA to Sign

The Nashville Predators recently traded Ryan McDonagh back to the Tampa Bay Lightning. He had asked for a trade after the season and general manager Barry Trotz obliged.

McDonagh has a no-move clause on his contract, so he could've given a list of teams he wanted to play for next season or just one. Either way, he found himself back on the Lightning, a team that is pretty strapped for cap space once again.

With McDonagh rejoining the Lightning and bolstering that defense, it adds $6.75 million AAV for two more years. That really makes it tough for the team to re-sign Steven Stamkos now. He has been a fixture in the top-6 for his entire career and even though there were question marks about his future in Tampa Bay earlier in the season, Lightning GM Julien BriseBois believes that the team still has enough cap space to extend Stamkos.

Related: Podcast: After McDonagh Trade, What's Next for Barry Trotz and the Predators?

The Lightning currently have $5 million to spend on their captain who just scored 40 goals and 81 points in 79 games. He's 34 years old and his last contract had a cap hit of $8.5 million AAV. That's a significant drop for someone who's still playing great hockey and serving as a major contributor to the success of the team.

Predators Possibly Made Sneakiest Trade of Offseason

McDonagh was great for the Predators, so that is a big loss for them. Fortunately, the free agent crop on defense is very good and the team has lots of money to dish out to one or two defensive upgrades. Nashville also received a second-round pick which isn't nothing.

The Predators might have lost a veteran defender who was really contributing, but by looking at the problems with the cap the Lightning now have, it may have freed up Stamkos to test free agency, and henceforth land in Nashville.

That $5 million to spend on Stamkos is also excluding a league-minimum player Tampa Bay might sign. They would be rolling with two open roster spots if the rest of the money is spent on Stamkos.

Not only do I think that the Lightning won't be able to get Stamkos at a number that low since he has already won the Stanley Cup twice with the team that drafted him, if the Lightning have any chance of bringing him back at a number he's more deserving of, someone will have to be traded.

Not only can the Predators spend more on enticing Stamkos to come to Nashville if he becomes a free agent, the Predators desperately need him to be one of the top-6 centermen. The Predators have around $25 million to spend this summer on upgrading and ensuring they get back to the postseason. Even if the term is longer and the money is a bit more, Nashville can more than handle that on the books. This is what makes this team the favorite to land Stamkos and why they should go after him.

There is a lot of confidence by BriseBois to think that Stamkos is going to come back on a very cheap contract. Trotz has made a lot of great decisions since taking over as GM of the Predators. Don't think McDonagh's cap heading to Tampa Bay to make it difficult for the Lightning to keep Stamkos wasn't on Trotz's mind when he executed the trade. We will see what happens from here, but the Predators are not going to be silent this offseason.

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