Player Discussion: Ryan McDonagh

[LightningStrikes]

Best goaltendefenseman in the league. Just saved another sure one.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

He has stepped it up these past few games, and honestly through this point in the season his profile looks better than say Pietrangelo. Last year was pretty bad for him so we’ll have to see if it isn’t a fluke but looks like he’s at the very least top 30 again among dmen. His deployment is tough and he does an admirable job on both ends of the ice.

 

[Rschmitz]

Again, best defensive play I've ever seen. He's gotten a lot of praise recently but it's not nearly enough.

 

[DFC]

It seems like he saves an absolute, sure-fire goal, every other game. And breaks up a couple of Grade-A chances every single game.

 

[Hockey4Life91]

When McD’s extension was announced this summer, I was skeptical given his play during the playoffs. Now I am grinning and bowing to SY, the Jedi master. One of his last GREAT moves for this franchise. We have Heddy and McD locked up for years. Our defense core is set. And this does not even account for the fact that we have Serg and Cernak cost controlled for many future seasons, too.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Told you to have faith on him. He's inmense.

 

[Stormbreaker]

The crow tastes good.

 

[2020 Cup Champions]

The crow tastes good.

Pass the platter.

 

[LonLon Lei]

Just found this.nice to get the recognition outside the organization. think other guys on our team will be featured,too, soon？Though not Kuch yet with how to pass... think it' be too technical

 

[LightningStrikes]

 

[Hockey4Life91]

Here is more McD praise from me: He's leading the team in plus/minus at +12. (Unlike some, I think +\- is a reasonable metric because the false positives effect all players, thus it all balances out.) So beyond the eye test (which he is crushing), certain metrics also confirm that he has been key to our success.

What is striking is that Hedman is the worst on the team at -4. Hedman often is one our better performers in this regard, so I would expect this to change as the season progresses. Perhaps one explanation for this regression is Coop's decision to stick him with Girardi this season. On thing is for certain, though: it isn't match-ups or ice time, as McD has played more on average against tougher opponents.

I <3 McD

 

[LightningStrikes]

+/- is not a reliable stat most of the time but it's a good indicator when isolating it on a single team.

McDonagh's +/- is absolutely insane compared to all other Lightning players. The Lightning currently rank 3rd in the NHL with a +23 GF/GA ratio (98 GF is 1st in the NHL, 75 GA is 15th).

McDonagh is +17.
The next best Bolts player is Point with +10.
Next up are Cernak, Killer, Cirelli and Johnson at +6.
Stralman is at +5 (missed 10 games).
Coburn, Girardi and Sergachev are all at +1.
Hedman is -3 (missed 7 games).
Behind Hedman, Stamkos is worst at -2 together with Pac.

McD has the 3rd highest TOI/GP among all Lightning players at 22.04.
Behind Hedman 22.16 and Stralman 22.25 (again, who both missed quite a few games).
McD also just played about 4 minutes last night which reduces his average slightly.

McD is also 1st on the team with 2.0 blocks per game (next best is Strals at 1.6), 52 blocks total (next best is Girardi at 36).

So to sum up: +17 with tons of ice time, playing against the toughest opponents, blocking tons of shots. What a freaking beast!

 

[VoluntaryDom]

He already has 12 5v5 points. Had 15 all of last year.

 

[n8]

The crow tastes good.

glad to see Bolt fans finally see why Ranger fans thought so highly of McD.

 

[LonLon Lei]

glad to see Bolt fans finally see why Ranger fans thought so highly of McD.

he did this last night (though Cirelli falling together is what I like about this gif)
He's done a lot of things like this this season so far which is not showing on his stats.


hope you guy's rebuild is going well.

 

[CupsOverCash]

he did this last night (though Cirelli falling together is what I like about this gif)
He's done a lot of things like this this season so far which is not showing on his stats.


hope you guy's rebuild is going well.

I was going to go nuts if he scored that goal lol.

 

[Steazy Doo]

I was going to nut if he scored that goal lol.

Fixed that for you

 

[LightningStorm]

Going into the season I was hoping him having a training camp with us would help him get more acclimated to the team. Fortunately it has, and you can tell he's more on the same page with everyone. His play in his own end has been great this season, and was what I was hoping for when we traded for him this season.

 

[2020 Cup Champions]

Fixed that for you

*username Crabby Williams*

 

[Vasilevskiy]

*username Crabby Williams*

finally

 

[Steazy Doo]

*username Crabby Williams*

To be fair, I was here the whole time, but yes I should be a king.

 

[Zeus Bojangles]

In Joe Smith's article on the Lightning's pursuit of Tavares (Behind the Lightning's attempts to sign John Tavares and...) these are the first two sentences:

"The day before then-Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman flew to L.A. to make his pitch for superstar free agent John Tavares this summer, he was at a Minneapolis cigar bar trying to lock up one of his own. It was June 26, and Yzerman was at Castro’s with defenseman Ryan McDonagh and agents Ben Hankinson and Chris McAlpine"

Clearly McD was always meant for Tampa...

 

[Coopers Gum]

To be fair, I was here the whole time, but yes I should be a king.

I need to change my name back... back to the good old days...

 

[Steazy Doo]

I need to change my name back... back to the good old days...

We were the original Triplets.

 

[LightningStrikes]

We were the original Triplets.

Are all three triplets still active? With all the name changes I have lost track tbh.