In a normal year when his team has some time off in St. Paul and their lodging is a few blocks or so from Xcel Energy Center, Tampa Bay Lightning veteran defenseman Ryan McDonagh has been known to offer team staff a tour of his hometown. Sadly, a team hotel on the west side of the river made that impossible in 2024.

“We actually stayed in Minneapolis this year, but in the past I’ve taken the trainers around to Shamrock’s and the Nook and all my favorite spots in St. Paul,” McDonagh said following the team’s morning skate prior to a 5-3 loss to the Wild on Nov. 1. “It’s the best. There’s nothing like it.”

It was fitting that on the night he played what will presumably be his only game back in Minnesota this season, McDonagh watched former Cretin-Derham Hall baseball star Joe Mauer and his twin daughters fire up the crowd with the “Let’s play hockey!” cheer prior to the opening faceoff. While Cretin has always been known for star athletes on the football field (Matt Birk, Chris Weinke) and the baseball diamond (Mauer, Paul Molitor), McDonagh was one of the school’s rare certified hockey stars, helping the Raiders win the 2006 state title as a junior and grabbing Minnesota’s Mr. Hockey honors the following season.

After three seasons at Wisconsin, he jumped to the NHL and spent parts of the next eight years in New York with the Rangers, which included a run to the Stanley Cup final in 2014. Traded to Tampa Bay in 2018, McDonagh established himself as a key cog in the Lightning defensive corps as they won Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021.

“He’s so steady. You watch the simple plays he makes, sneaky plays that are really good and most people wouldn’t notice, but when you’re in-depth analyzing him there are a lot of impressive ‘I wouldn’t have even thought of that’ kinds of things,” said Lightning defenseman Nick Perbix, an Elk River product who admits to learning much from watching McDonagh play. “It’s unique for a guy who has played as long as he has to do some of the things he does. So what he brings to our team is special.”

Indeed, playing defense at pro hockey’s top level takes a toll on the body, and a 2022 trade may have helped with McDonagh’s longevity. That summer the Lightning shipped him to the Nashville Predators, where the McDonagh clan spent two seasons. As opposed to the Lightning and their seemingly annual deep playoff runs, McDonagh played a total of six postseason games in his two years in Music City. The longer offseasons have paid physical dividends for a player who is 35 and has blocked his share of slap shots over the years.

“I’m feeling great,” McDonagh said prior to facing the Wild. He was nursing a recent black eye, but it didn’t seem to bother him. “My first tenure in Tampa we didn’t have long offseasons, but the last couple years I had some longer summers in Nashville where we didn’t make the playoffs or went out in the first round. So I’ve been able to have back-to-back long summers where I’ve been able to get back to feeling great on the ice and confident. I’m feeling good and definitely feel like my game is in a good spot. Especially in today’s game with skating and speed, you’ve got to be able to move fast out there, and I feel like I’m moving pretty good.”

Last summer when the Lightning went looking for a veteran defenseman, they traded for a known commodity, bringing McDonagh and his family back to Florida’s Gulf Coast, where they feel comfortable despite the recent one-two punch of multiple hurricanes pounding the region.

“It’s been awesome. My family and my kids remember the school they were at, and it’s different than any other moves or trades you go through where you’ve got to explore another city or get used to new surroundings,” he said. “You already know that, so you can come in and focus on hockey, when your family is all set. It’s a good spot where they can continue to thrive and develop.”

The Lightning have put McDonagh in a kind of development role in his second act with the franchise, pairing him with hulking Slovakian Erik Cernak on the blue line and using the veteran as a kind of mentor. So far, the reunion has been a success in Tampa.

“Bringing guys back who have won with us before, they know how we play and know what to expect so that gets him ahead of other new guys that have come in,“ Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “He’s such a stabilizing force, not only in his play but he’s helped Cernak too, so they’re a really good group that can defend. We missed him when he was gone, and it’s great to have him back.”

Even though the night ended in a loss, and there was not a Juicy Nookie burger involved in the trip, McDonagh admitted that all these years later, a game back in his hometown gets the blood pumping a little faster.

“It’s always special. Lots of great memories in this building, going back to high school,” he said. “I grew up watching pro hockey here, and high school hockey and college hockey, all your dreams start watching hockey in this building.”

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