Back with Lightning, former Cretin-Derham Hall star Ryan McDonagh welcomes role as mentor – Twin Cities

On a typical year, when his team is on vacation in St. Paul and their home is about a few blocks from the Xcel Energy Center, Tampa Bay Lightning veteran defenseman Ryan McDonagh has been known to give team staff a tour of his hometown. Unfortunately, the team hotel on the west bank of the river made that impossible in 2024.

“We actually stayed in Minneapolis this year, but I used to take my sneakers to Shamrock’s and the Nook and all my favorite spots in St. Paul,” McDonagh said after the team’s morning skate before the 5-3 loss. to the Wild on November 1. “This is the best. There is nothing like it.”

It was fitting that on the night he played in what was likely his only Minnesota game of the season, McDonagh watched as former Cretin-Derham Hall baseball star Jo Mauer and his twin daughters ignited the crowd with a chant of “Let’s Play Hockey!” to encourage before the first throw. 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 won the Minnesota Mr. Hockey title the following season.

After three seasons at Wisconsin, he moved up to the NHL and spent parts of the next eight years in New York with the Rangers, including a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2014. He was traded to Tampa Bay in 2018, and McDonagh established himself as a key cog in the Lightning’s defensive corps as they won the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021.

“He’s so resilient. You watch the simple plays he makes, the sneaky plays that are really good and most people don’t notice, but when you dig deep into him, you can see a lot of amazing ‘I wouldn’t even think of that’ things,” the defenseman said Lightning Nick Perbix, an Elk River product who admits he learned a lot 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 the highest level of pro hockey takes a toll on the body, and the 2022 trade may have helped McDonagh with longevity. That summer, the Lightning sent him to the Nashville Predators, where the McDonagh clan spent two seasons. Unlike the Lightning and their seemingly annual deep playoff runs, McDonagh played in a total of six postseason games in two years in the Music City. The longer offseasons have paid physical dividends for the 35-year-old, who has blocked his share of shots over the years.

“I feel great,” McDonagh said before meeting the Wild. He had recently healed a bruise under his eye, but it didn’t seem to bother him. “We didn’t have long offseasons in my first stint in Tampa, but the last couple of years I’ve had longer summers in Nashville where we didn’t make the playoffs and didn’t get out of the first round. So I was able to have back-to-back long summers where I was able to get back to feeling great on the ice and feeling confident. I feel good and definitely feel like my game is in a good place. Especially in today’s game with the skates and the speed, you have to be able to move quickly, and I feel like I move pretty well.”

Last summer, when the Lightning were looking for a veteran defenseman, they traded for a big-name commodity, bringing McDonagh and his family back to Florida’s Gulf Coast, where they’re comfortable despite the recent one-two punch of several hurricanes. per region.

“It was great. My family and my children remember the school they went to, and it’s different from any other move or profession that requires you to explore a different city or get used to a new environment,” he said. “You already know that, so you can come and focus on hockey when your family is ready. It’s a good place where they can continue to thrive and grow.”

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

“Bringing back guys that have won with us before, they know how we play and know what to expect to get ahead of the other new guys that have come in,” Lightning coach John Cooper said. “He’s such a stabilizing force, not only in his game, but he’s also helped Cernak, so they’re a really good group to 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 no Juicy Nookie burger on the trip, McDonagh admitted that playing in his hometown all these years later gets the blood pumping a little.

“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, high school hockey and college hockey, all your dreams start watching hockey in this building.”