Darren Raddysh put together the best hockey season of his life in 2025-26 for the Tampa Bay Lightning.
That earned him a huge free agent contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs that will pay him $8.5 million per year, with the expectation that he can come through on the blue line for a Leafs team that disappointed in a major way last season.
There’s very clear risk, though, and with the regular season less than a week away, that’s what ESPN’s Rachel Kryshak points out in a new article on Thursday. In a piece coming up with candidates to regress this season, Raddysh is one of the first players she names.
Darren Raddysh, Regression Candidate
Raddysh had never approached the numbers he put up in his age-29 season with the Lightning.
The defenseman with a big shot put up 28 goals and 48 assists for 70 points in 73 games.
His role in Toronto, at least, shouldn’t be very different. It’s just going to be tough to replicate those numbers.
“Raddysh is going to have the basically the same offensive opportunity in Toronto that he was afforded last season in Tampa Bay,” Kryshak writes. “He will run the top power-play unit and be depended on to play top-pair minutes and generate offense from the back end. Expecting Raddysh to produce near a point-per-game pace is wholly unreasonable.”
The setup for Raddysh in Toronto is different, though. He might not have the ideal player to pair with, or the ideal power-play star to rely upon.
“Raddysh performed at his best with a strong defensive partner that allowed him to take risks and drive play,” Kryshak writes. “With the Leafs, a healthy Chris Tanev or Jake McCabe would be the closest to replicating the partnership he had in Tampa Bay. Without that, Raddysh’s defensive load would increase, which will depress his offensive involvement and production. Furthermore, Raddysh benefitted from one of the best power-play players of the generation in Nikita Kucherov. The Leafs do not have a dual threat of that level. Auston Matthews and William Nylander are primary shooters, but neither is the dual-threat passer and shooter that Kucherov is, making them more predictable. Raddysh will play with extraordinarily talented players in Toronto, but equaling his career-high point total (after doubling it from the previous season) is rarely sustainable for nonsuperstar players.”
Raddysh and the Leafs open the season on Tuesday night at home against the Montreal Canadiens.
Not All Bad
The reality is that the Maple Leafs aren’t necessarily expecting Raddysh to equal those numbers.
If he’s just a quality-scoring defenseman, he can still be worth most of his contract.
“Reasonable expectations would have Raddysh in the midteens for goals and high 50s in total points,” Kryshak writes. “Though that’s still among the game’s best, it is a significant step back from a near point-per-game season in 2025-26.”
Raddysh can certainly make a difference for Toronto, which felt let down by its blue line too often a season ago. Just the improvement he brings for the Maple Leafs can be worth the deal, even if it’s nearly impossible for him to equal his stats from last season.
Maple Leafs’ Darren Raddysh Gets Bad News From ESPN