Darren Raddysh doesn't need another 70-point season to help transform the Maple Leafs' blue line [2026-27 Player Preview]

Darren Raddysh's rise from undrafted OHL overager to $68-million defenseman is one of the league's great late-bloomer stories. Naturally, it is also the source of most of the risk in the Maple Leafs' biggest offseason bet. Raddysh didn't establish himself as a full-time NHL defenseman until he was 27. Three years later, following a wildly productive contract season in Tampa Bay, the Leafs acquired his rights for a fifth-round pick and signed him to an eight-year, $68-million contract. His emergence did not come completely out of nowhere, though. The former OHL Defenseman of the Year was one of the AHL's most productive defensemen in 2022-23, recording 51 points in 50 games for Syracuse before earning a late-season recall to Tampa. With the Lightning's blue line depleted entering their first-round matchup against the Leafs, he was pressed into a significant playoff role despite owning just 21 games of NHL experience. The Lightning lost the series in six despite carrying much of the play at five-on-five, but Raddysh acquitted himself well amid difficult circumstances. He recorded two points in six games, played over 20 minutes five times, and logged 26:03 in the series-deciding Game 6. Tampa had uncovered another useful NHL defenseman out of seemingly nowhere. Over the next two seasons, Raddysh settled in as a solid, productive, everyday blue liner. He appeared in all 82 games in 2023-24, recording six goals and 33 points while averaging 19:06. In 2024-25, he produced another six goals and increased his total to 37 points in 73 games while winning his five-on-five minutes 54-38. Those were impressive seasons for a formerly undrafted player who had spent parts of six years in the AHL, but nothing hinted at what came next in 2025-26: 22 goals and 70 points in 73 games. He led all NHL defensemen in points per game, set a Lightning franchise record for goals by a defenseman, produced 26 power-play points, and raised his average ice time from 19:06 to 22:42. His 70 points nearly matched the 73 he had accumulated over his first four NHL seasons combined. Raddysh undeniably benefited from the environment in Tampa. He played on a Lightning power play with a 130-point genius controlling the half wall, and his role on the top unit increased dramatically. After averaging 44 seconds of power-play time per game in 2023-24 and 1:47 in 2024-25, he received 3:45 per game last season. He also shot 10.4 percent, a lofty number for a defenseman, while converting a steady supply of Nikita Kucherov-fed opportunities. I don't think anyone in Toronto is naive enough to believe the Leafs have just purchased 22 goals and 70 points as their annual ROI here. However, it would be equally simplistic to write off the entire breakout as a byproduct of Tampa's power play, which actually finished 17th in the NHL last season (lower than the Leafs'!). Raddysh's shot is a legitimate weapon; it ranked in the 97th percentile for recorded shot speed last season, and he combines the power with a real skill for finding shooting lanes through traffic. Just as importantly, Raddysh's five-on-five results supported his offensive production. Tampa outscored the opposition 71-49 with him on the ice at five-on-five while controlling over 57 percent of both the shots and expected goals. These were not empty-calorie minutes against soft competition; Raddysh and J.J. Moser emerged as one of Jon Cooper's most trusted pairings, regularly taking on difficult matchups and dominating their minutes. Outside of the shot, Raddysh is an adept breakout and transition defenseman who handles the puck cleanly and moves it intelligently. He has similarly good instincts for joining the attack up ice, where he is adept at finding the open ice and effectively bringing numbers into the attack as the second wave. Overall, he has consistently won his minutes by the shots, scoring chances, and high-danger chances metrics since he broke the league. He is not a perfect defenseman, either (nor is he paid like one). Raddysh can get moving at a good clip in a straight line, but his four-way mobility and agility are less impressive, which can leave him vulnerable to some flat-footed sequences in his own end. Raddysh's 2026-27 Outlook There is no getting around this contract as an aggressive bet. Raddysh is 30, owns only three full NHL seasons, and is coming off a career year that dwarfs anything he achieved before. The Leafs committed eight years at an $8.5-million AAV, believing his 2025-26 season represented a continuation of a genuine late-career emergence rather than a perfectly timed contract-year heater followed by a steep fall back to earth in his 30s. Fresh off Boston's seven-year, $7.2-million extension for Fraser Minten as our latest example, though, we have to be mindful of how we frame the price in today's NHL. Raddysh reached unrestricted free agency at arguably the more sought-after position (RHD) and received only $1.3 million more annually. The contracts are buying different things, clearly; Boston is betting on a 22-year-old RFA continuing to take big steps after a 17-goal, 35-point rookie season, while the Leafs are betting that Raddysh can remain somewhere near the level he reached at 30 and age gracefully over the next several years. Still, it is a reminder that $8.5 million does not buy an unquestioned superstar in the NHL's rising-cap environment. It should also be understood that Raddysh doesn't need to repeat 20+ goals and 65+ points to justify his big new contract. That would be an absolute home run, not a reasonable baseline. He does need to prove that the five-on-five performance is real. If Raddysh can play over 20 per night, win his minutes against difficult competition, improve the team's transition game and power play, and produce somewhere in the 40-to-50-point range, he will be worth every penny. 10-15 goals would still represent a major offensive addition to a previously underproductive blue line. On the power play, Raddysh gives the Leafs a weapon they have not truly possessed since Bryan McCabe: a right-shot defenseman at the top who can cleanly beat goaltenders from distance. Opposing penalty kills will have to respect his one-timer, which should create different seams for Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares/Matthew Knies, and Gavin McKenna. Raddysh will occupy the quarterback's position, but similar to Tampa, he doesn't need to become the primary conductor of the unit. Tampa's power play ran through Kucherov on the half wall, with Raddysh scanning for lanes, moving the puck efficiently, and providing a constant shooting threat up top. The Leafs don't have Kucherov, but with the processing and playmaking available through Nylander, Matthews, and now McKenna, Raddysh should be able to make a big contribution without being asked to manufacture his own openings. At five-on-five, Jake McCabe is probably a sensible partner to start Raddysh with. If he can regroup after the shaky second half of 2025-26, McCabe is mobile, can handle difficult assignments, can be hard to play against in the trenches, and can provide some of the stability Moser offered in Tampa. Other options do exist, but none is as straightforward. If the new coaching staff chooses to reunite McCabe with Chris Tanev, OEL, Morgan Rielly, or Emil Andrae could conceivably receive looks beside Raddysh, although all of these combinations would carry more significant defensive and usage concerns. Raddysh's arrival checks several empty boxes from last season. The Leafs needed a right-shot defenseman (their best healthy one last season was Troy Stecher), more defensemen who can make a clean play under pressure, more offense from the blue line, a serious shooting threat from the top on the power play, and another defenseman who can credibly play over 20 minutes against good players. They found all of those qualities in one player, and they also accepted significant risk to acquire them. At $8.5 million, Raddysh does not need to become a perennial 60-point stud and all-situations number-one defenseman who plays half the game in the spring. He needs to be a productive, top-pairing-capable defenseman who drives positive results at five-on-five and changes the geometry of the power play. If he accomplishes that for the next several years, no one in Toronto will care if he ever reaches 70 points again.