They finally did it. The Leafs landed the top defenseman in free agency via sign-and-trade. The only question now is which Darren Raddysh they’ll get. After all, the 30-year-old’s breakout campaign was driven by a particular set of conditions:
Rampant injuries on the back end granted him a top-pairing role
World-class service from Nikita Kucherov
The green light from Jon Cooper to play to his strengths
At least in theory, Toronto seems…kind of equipped to replicate them. He’ll begin the season in the RD1 hole. Jake McCabe can provide stability at LD. Although the Leafs—like every other team—lack a Kucherov-tier playmaker, there’s still impressive talent on the roster with Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Matthew Knies, John Tavares and first overall pick Gavin McKenna.
The crux, then, is coaching. Did Jim Hiller’s conservative Kings system boil down to personnel limitations? Will we see a freer version of the Leafs in 2026-27? We’ll have to wait for preseason to catch a glimpse of his tactics, but this quote from mid-June sounds promising:
“The game has to be fun. We’ll have a style of play, I think, that the players will be excited to play. And I think that’s the most important.”
If that’s the case, Raddysh is set up for success. This is a blueliner who must activate on the attack in order to deliver full value:
In spite of average physical tools (6’1”, 202 lbs and a top speed below the 50th percentile), he’s eager to join the rush. He’ll drive the middle lane to create space for teammates, he can lug the puck when he’s granted a runway and, perhaps most interestingly for the Leafs, he displays good timing as a trailer. Morgan Rielly has supported Toronto’s offense in this manner for years. Raddysh can do the same while introducing a whole other level of potency.
Next to a button hook-happy forward like Nylander, there should be plenty of opportunities for the newcomer to flex his marksmanship.
His assertiveness may be most apparent in transition, but it’s most effective along the OZ blue line. Whereas Adam Fox calls on his scalpel to dissect defenses from the point, Raddysh breaks through thanks to his sledgehammer. He loves to fire from distance:
And he REALLY loves to unload his slapper. Raddysh did everything he could to revive this dying art in 2025-26:
Tyler Kleven recorded the single heaviest shot in the league last year. Why doesn’t anyone consider him a serious threat? Because velocity is of little consequence without volume. Look at Raddysh’s position on the chart below. He came out of nowhere to lap the field in both slap shots taken and 90+ mph bids among blueliners. His power and prolificacy pummeled goaltenders over and over again:
He was on his own point-shooting planet.
There’s more to it than just wanting to pull the trigger, though. Raddysh possesses the play recognition to sniff out potential feeds, hop on his toes and roll into fearsome one-timers. He also keeps defenses honest by moving before/with his catch to carve out attractive lanes:
These clips are all from a single game vs. the Wild. Watch how his lateral adjustments and anticipation crack open the door for his long-distance attempts. He’s always floating onto a viable platform at the time of reception.
His shot chart, which includes just one blast from the left point, throws a couple of considerations into the mix:
He prefers operating on “his” half of the OZ. As such, he hones in on strong-side, shorter-distance passes.
Kucherov’s deception and pinpoint accuracy did some heavy lifting.
It will likely take Raddysh and his new teammates a couple of months to strike a similar rapport. Should that ever happen, he’ll remind goaltenders of his ability to beat them cleanly from range.
Moreover, the respect his bomb commands following a 22-goal, 70-point season should generate higher-grade chances for the Leafs’ stars on the PP (15th last year). It’s not difficult to envision McKenna as Jake Guentzel (TB 59) and Matthews as Kucherov (TB 86) in the sequence below. Such designs are simpler to execute with a trigger man in high middle ice. A cannon in that location carries gravity. It hypnotizes defenders and thus softens the resistance in cross-ice seams. It can change…everything on the man advantage:
Don’t mistake Raddysh for a quarterback, though. His space-creating dimension stems from the presence of his scoring ability rather than his playmaking skill set. In fact, his puck management under pressure and final touch on passing plays can betray him at times:
So yeah, he’s not a like-for-like Rielly upgrade. Less of a transporter/facilitator, more of a firehose/finisher. He’ll probably need his partner and tight forward support to help get the ball rolling in transition. Once the Leafs find their stride, he’ll add a menace from the back end that hasn’t existed in the Matthews era. It should supply the captain and his fellow top-sixers with much more breathing room than they enjoyed last season.
On the defensive side of the puck, the undrafted rearguard fared reasonably well in Cooper’s aggressive system. Much like Moser, he spotted and smothered NZ pass recipients early:
However, his gap control gave rise to both highlights and blunders.
When he sniffed out a stretch pass, he pressed up to stop the opposition dead in its tracks. When attackers could build on-puck momentum, reset or side-switch—thereby demanding Raddysh to size them up on the fly instead of arriving on the spot ahead of time—he conceded A LOT of territory. He was often guilty of wasted movement on entry attempts, straying outside the dot lane and then surrendering ice while he course-corrected back to the interior.
As the second half of the season wore on, the cracks in his NZ defense began to surface. Teams were able to punish his poor angling/depth on reloads and carries:
We still don’t know what type of NZ system Hiller will employ. In other words, we don’t know whether Raddysh will be primed to contest those head-man passes. Regardless, tracking from the forwards will be crucial to mitigating his blemishes in transition. Toronto’s recent additions up front (Colton Sissons, Nick Paul, Brandon Duhaime, Teddy Blueger) could help in that regard. Matthews was eaten alive for his modest goal total in 2025-26, but he remained a solid three-zone pivot too.
Not much to report in the DZ. His stick work, off-puck marking and engagement level are perfectly…fine. Maybe a tick above average for an offensive D-man.
All told, this is an audacious bet by new GM John Chayka. While Raddysh fills a stylistic need, he had never eclipsed the 40-point mark prior to last season—and his coming-out party coincided with his contract year. His surroundings are worse, so his burden is heavier too. Fortunately, the Leafs don’t need him to repeat his 70-point performance. It’d be nice, of course, but 50-plus points alongside the ripple effects of his thumping point shot would do the trick for $8.5M AAV.
Does that meet the definition of a “true” 1D? As long as he helps renew the team’s playoff push, does it matter?
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