John Chayka certainly can’t be accused of easing into his new job.
“We are thrilled to add a defenceman of Darren’s caliber to our organization,” Chayka said in a statement. “Darren has emerged as one of the NHL’s premier two-way defencemen, combining elite puck-moving ability with poise, competitiveness, and strong play in all three zones. He strengthens our blue line in every situation and is exactly the type of player we want helping lead this team.”
The 30-year-old Raddysh took advantage of the opportunity presented by Lightning captain Victor Hedman’s various absences this past season. Raddysh’s ice time ballooned by more than five minutes per game (22:42) from the previous season (17:18). The bulk of that increase came on the power play, where Raddysh scored 10 goals to lead all defencemen. (Toronto defencemen accounted for one power-play goal all season.)
Raddysh’s 96 shots that reached at least 90 m.p.h. this past season led all skaters by a wide margin, according to NHL EDGE. Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard ranked second with 51 such shots.
“He’s always had the offensive instincts; I can’t remember the year, but he was leading the American (Hockey) League in scoring, the entire league, at Christmas time,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper told reporters during the playoffs. “So he’s had that part to him, he just had to find his niche, and eventually it was us.
“The spot opening up on the power play for him has helped, but it’s all playing time, confidence, having success, knowing what you can do, and it took him a little bit of time to figure all that stuff out. And then it took a coach that finally clued in and played him more.”
Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov directly assisted on all eight of Raddysh’s one-timer goals on the power play and 15 of his 22 total goals. It will be up to Maple Leafs forwards Auston Matthews, William Nylander and even presumptive No. 1 overall pick Gavin McKenna to develop that same chemistry with Raddysh to boost a Toronto power play that sagged to 15th in 2025-26.
Tampa Bay also won the territorial battle during Raddysh’s minutes at five-on-five, outscoring opponents 72-49 and generating 59.2 per cent of the expected goals. Only two defencemen who played at least 40 games — Colorado’s Sam Malinski (62.0 per cent) and Ottawa’s Jordan Spence (59.8 per cent) — had better expected-goal rates at five-on-five.
Of course, Raddysh benefited from often sharing the ice with the likes of Kucherov (526:39 at even strength), Brandon Hagel (425:22) and Jake Guentzel (418:08). But new Maple Leafs coach Jim Hiller could easily strap Raddysh to Matthews and Nylander in an attempt to produce similar results.
Although Raddysh is far from the speediest skater, he can still push the puck up ice at a high level. His 75.1 per cent completion rate on stretch passes ranked seventh out of 201 qualified defencemen, and his 21.8 possession-driving plays per game were 20th at the position.
The Maple Leafs are taking a significant risk by giving Raddysh, whose previous career highs were six goals and 37 points, a nearly 800 per cent annual raise. The only two players who have received a bigger pay bump from one standard contract to the next are Anaheim’s Jackson LaCombe, whose cap hit will jump from $925,000 to $9 million next season, and Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov, who is going from a $9-million cap hit to $17 million starting next season. LaCombe, however, was 24 at signing, and Kaprizov has demonstrated over multiple seasons that he is worth the price.
Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois told reporters after the season that “the type of season (Raddysh) just had was not on the radar for us.”
Chayka clearly believes that Raddysh’s breakout year was not a one-off.