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The Tampa Bay Lightning have reunited with a familiar face, bringing back defenseman Ryan McDonagh in a trade with Nashville on Tuesday.

The Lightning sent a 2025 second-round draft choice and 2024 seventh-round selection to the Predators for McDonagh and the Edmonton Oilers‘ 2024 fourth-round pick.

Tampa Bay previously traded McDonagh — for defenseman Philippe Myers and forward Grant Mismash — to Nashville in July 2022. It was a salary cap dump the Lightning had to make at the time despite how valuable McDonagh had been on their back end through Stanley Cup championship runs in 2020 and 2021.

He was originally traded to Tampa Bay by the New York Rangers in February 2018 as part of a multiplayer swap that included J.T. Miller. McDonagh signed a seven-year, $47.25 million contract extension with the Lightning that June and went on to produce a career-best season in 2018-19 with nine goals and 46 points in 82 games.

It was the next two years that McDonagh, 34, would truly excel, though, as he helped the Bolts secure back-to-back titles. He was a consistent presence guiding their defensive efforts while adding one goal and 13 points across both playoffs.

Tampa Bay advanced to the Cup Final again in 2021-22 and lost there to Colorado. In the ensuing offseason, the Lightning had to create cap space and did so by sending McDonagh to Nashville.

McDonagh was a top-four blueliner for the Predators, producing five goals and 52 points during his tenure there. He was also a top skater for the Predators in their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series loss to Vancouver, carrying nearly 24 minutes per night. Shipping McDonagh back to Tampa frees up about $6.75 million on the cap for Nashville.

The Lightning would have targeted McDonagh for more than just nostalgia’s sake. Tampa Bay was hampered by blueline issues throughout last season, especially with multiple long-term injuries to top-pairing defender Mikhail Sergachev. The Lightning were 11th in goals-against (3.26) during the regular season and third overall (4.00) there in the postseason, where Tampa Bay made an early first-round exit against Florida.

McDonagh has two years remaining on his contract, taking him through the 2025-26 season.

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Source: Belichick, UNC won’t be on Hard Knocks

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Source: Belichick, UNC won't be on Hard Knocks

North Carolina and new coach Bill Belichick will not be the subject of HBO’s “Hard Knocks: Offseason,” a source confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday.

Front Office Sports reported last week that North Carolina would be featured on this year’s show, which would have given viewers an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how Belichick would manage his first offseason as a college head coach.

When asked about it on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Tar Heels general manager Michael Lombardi said that nothing had been signed with the university but that the program was receiving “a lot of offers from people all over to come in and look at our program.”

But, as CBS Sports first reported earlier Tuesday, a deal could not be reached.

UNC hired Belichick in December after he had spent his entire career in the NFL, where he won six Super Bowls as coach of the New England Patriots. The Patriots never were selected to appear on “Hard Knocks.”

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NHL trade grades: Report cards for the Trent Frederic swap, Seth Jones blockbuster, other major deals

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NHL trade grades: Report cards for the Trent Frederic swap, Seth Jones blockbuster, other major deals

The NHL trade deadline for the 2024-25 season is not until March 7, but teams have not waited until the last minute to make major moves.

For every significant trade that occurs during the season, you’ll find a grade for it here, the Colorado Avalanche and San Jose Sharks swapping goaltenders, Cam Fowler to the St. Louis Blues, Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken, the blockbuster deal sending Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes and Martin Necas to the Avalanche, J.T. Miller from the Vancouver Canucks to the New York Rangers, and the Canucks staying busy and getting Marcus Pettersson from the Pittsburgh Penguins.

March 1 featured three big trades, with Ryan Lindgren headed to the Colorado Avalanche, the Minnesota Wild adding Gustav Nyquist, and Seth Jones joining the Florida Panthers.

Read on for grades from Ryan S. Clark and Greg Wyshynski, and check back the next time a big deal breaks.

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Reports: Brewers add depth with lefty Quintana

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Reports: Brewers add depth with lefty Quintana

Veteran left-handed pitcher Jose Quintana is joining the Milwaukee Brewers on a one-year, $4.25 million deal with $1 million in potential bonuses, according to multiple reports.

Quintana, 36, is coming off a 2024 season in which he went 10-10 with a 3.75 ERA in 31 starts for the New York Mets. He struck out 135 and walked 63 in 170⅓ innings. Over his past six regular-season starts, Quintana gave up four runs — three earned — in 36 1/3 innings.

He started the deciding game of New York’s NL Wild Card Series matchup with the Brewers and pitched six shutout innings in the Mets’ 4-2 victory, though he received no decision. Quintana had a total of three postseason starts, allowing six runs — five earned — over 14 1/3 innings.

Quintana now will compete for a spot in a Brewers rotation that returns right-handers Freddy Peralta, Tobias Myers and Aaron Civale. The two-time defending NL Central champions also added left-hander Nestor Cortes in a trade that sent two-time NL reliever of the year Devin Williams to the New York Yankees.

The Brewers could use some rotation depth as two-time All-Star Brandon Woodruff and Robert Gasser come back from injuries. Woodruff missed all of 2024 while recovering from shoulder surgery, and he won’t be ready for the start of the season. Gasser, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, isn’t expected to be available until late in the season.

Milwaukee got more bad news Monday night when left-hander Aaron Ashby, a candidate for a rotation spot, left his start against the Cincinnati Reds with an injury. Murphy told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Ashby appeared to have an oblique issue and would undergo an MRI.

When he makes his Brewers debut, Quintana will have pitched for every team in the NL Central. He was with the Chicago Cubs from 2017-20 and split the 2022 season between the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals.

Quintana owns a 102-103 record and 3.74 ERA in 359 career appearances, including 333 starts. He’s also had stints with the Chicago White Sox (2012-17), Los Angeles Angels (2021), San Francisco Giants (2021) and Mets (2023-24). He was selected to the All-Star Game in 2016.

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