The Nashville Predators will be without defenseman Ryan McDonagh for the near future. The Preds placed McDonagh on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, and he’s expected to miss two to four weeks.
The #Preds have recalled defenseman Jordan Gross from the @mkeadmirals. Additionally, defenseman Ryan McDonagh has been placed on IR and will miss 2-4 weeks with an upper-body injury.https://t.co/K4YVGALySb
— Nashville Predators PR (@PredsPR) December 5, 2022
Conventional wisdom would say McDonagh’s injury has something to do with why he left Friday’s game against the New York Islanders.
Ryan McDonagh just made a save with his face. Ouchhhhh. pic.twitter.com/LG7bOsiNWu
— Alex Daugherty (@AlexDaugherty1) December 3, 2022
In his place, the Predators have made a corresponding move to recall defenseman Jordan Gross from the Milwaukee Admirals.
McDonagh, acquired in the offseason from Tampa Bay for Phillippe Myers and Grant Mismash, has had an up-and-down start to his Nashville career. He started the season playing with Mattias Ekholm (which forced Ekholm to play on his opposite side) but the pairing struggled to find success. Since then, McDonagh has spent time most recently alongside Roman Josi, where the two are performing at a much better level. The defender has played 23 games this season for the Nashville Predators, averaging 20:15 time on ice per game, good for third on the team. On the scoresheet, McDonagh ranks tied for ninth on the team with six points, all of which came from assists.
McDonagh joins fellow veteran defenseman Mark Borowiecki, who has been on injured reserve since October 22nd of this season, thinning out Nashville’s defense corps. However, since McDonagh has been placed on IR, that frees up $6.75 million of cap space.
Jordan Gross returns to Nashville after spending the last month playing with the AHL affiliate Milwauke Admirals. In three games this season with the Predators, Gross tallied two points – both of which were goals scored against the Vancouver Canucks on November 5th. Gross averaged 15:52 minutes of TOI per game played.
Gross has appeared in 13 games for the Milwaukee Admirals this season, tallying two goals and four assists.
We will have more as the situation develops.