The Toronto Maple Leafs are asking a lot of Darren Raddysh before he’s even skated in a regular-season game for his hometown team.
Toronto landed the defenseman from the Tampa Bay Lightning in a sign-and-trade on June 19, giving up only a 2026 fifth-round pick before locking him into an eight-year, $68 million deal with an $8.5 million annual cap hit. That kind of commitment brings instant scrutiny, and the conversation around Raddysh is already heating up.
On “Leafs Morning Take,” host Nick Alberga said he expects Toronto fans to come at Raddysh fast if the start isn’t sharp.
“I think Darren Raddysh has the most pressure,” Alberga said. “Toronto native, people are going to wonder, was last year a fluke?”
He pushed the point even further.
“What happens if Darren Raddysh starts the year and he has two points in the first 10, 15 games?”
That unease comes straight from Raddysh’s huge 2025-26 season with the Lightning. He put up 22 goals and 70 points in 73 games, set a franchise record for goals by a defenseman, led NHL blueliners with 10 power-play goals, averaged 22 minutes, 42 seconds of ice time and finished plus-21.
Former Maple Leafs forward Jay Rosehill thinks Raddysh’s path says plenty about how he’ll handle the spotlight.
“The thing with Raddysh is he has constantly made steps, getting better, getting better,” Rosehill said. “He was given nothing. He wasn’t drafted with a silver spoon in his mouth, undrafted, had to work, had to work up from the minor leagues, had to work up the depth charts, had to work up to the point where he got to where he got last year.
“[Raddysh] got rewarded for it, rightfully so, and now hopefully he can just continue on that journey of taking steps, proving people wrong.”
Rosehill said that pattern could help him deal with what’s coming in Toronto.
“I feel like he could have the mentality to do it,” Rosehill said. “There’s going to be chatter all over the place, and maybe he can, not hide, but maybe that pressure spreads out a little bit amongst the team, and he can maybe find his form without being the one guy everyone’s staring at from the drop of the puck.”
Toronto’s new-look roster is part of the backdrop here. The Maple Leafs went 32-36-14 last season, missed the playoffs and overhauled the group under general manager John Chayka and head coach Jim Hiller. Sergei Bobrovsky, Gavin McKenna, Emil Andrae, Nick Paul, Jack Roslovic and Colton Sissons are also in the mix.
Even with all that movement, Raddysh is still the headline piece. Toronto paid for the idea that last season was the start of something bigger, not the high-water mark. The first stretch of the season will tell whether that bet starts paying off right away.
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