Darren Raddysh arrives in Toronto with more than just a big shot from the point. The Maple Leafs are betting that he can help clean up the part of their game that hurt them most last season: keeping the puck.
Toronto landed Raddysh earlier this offseason in a sign-and-trade with Tampa Bay, sending a fifth-round pick to the Lightning and taking on a $68-million contract in the process. He’s coming off a 22-goal, 70-point season, and the Leafs brought him in to give their blue line a real threat from distance.
That’s the obvious selling point. The deeper case for the move is possession.
The Maple Leafs were beaten up in their own end last season. They finished last in defensive zone time percentage at 43.2%, last in offensive zone time percentage at 38.9% and 27th in long-range shots with 418. In plain terms, they spent too much of the year chasing the puck instead of controlling it.
That kind of stretch can drag down everyone, especially Auston Matthews and William Nylander. Both were forced to wait around in their own zone while the defence struggled to win the puck and move it cleanly out.
Matthews is coming off a down year, and the fit around him matters. He’s at his best when he can find space, get open and let that quick-release shot do the damage.
For that to happen, Toronto has to spend more time in the offensive end and create more steady chances.
Raddysh brings a very different profile. He ranked in the 95th percentile in offensive zone percentage at 45.5% and 96th in defensive zone percentage at 36.1%. That’s the kind of player who can retrieve the puck, keep it, and tilt the ice toward attack instead of survival.
Then there’s the shot, which is the kind of weapon Toronto hasn’t really had in the Matthews era. Raddysh ranked in the 98th percentile for average speed at 75.37 MPH, and his 97 shots between 90-101+ MPH were nearly double Evan Bouchard’s 51, while the Maple Leafs had only 34 as a team. He also led the NHL in goals from long range with nine, ranked in the 99th percentile in long-range shots on goal with 130, and finished with 212 shots on goal, more than triple the league average of 62.
That kind of blast changes how a power play can look. A screening player like Matthew Knies could make life miserable for goalies, and if defenders step up to respect the shot, Raddysh has the puck-moving ability to find teammates with more room.
Toronto hasn’t had a player with this level of shot threat in the Matthews era. The last Leaf who brought that kind of danger on the power play was Dion Phaneuf, who scored seven power-play goals in 2011-2012. No other Maple Leaf has matched that since.
The contract will be a sore spot for some fans, and whether it pays off will depend on whether Raddysh can build on his breakout season. But the fit is clear enough: Toronto had a possession problem, and Raddysh gives them a real chance to move up from the bottom of the board.
In Other News...
Steve Simmons Just Reopened The Ugliest Part Of The Marner Saga
Mitch Marners exit from Toronto was never going to fade quietly, and a fresh round of comments from his agent has only dragged the conversation back into the open. Darren Ferris recently blasted the Maple Leafs for how Marner was handled during his time with the club, pointing to concerns like missing bonuses and the fact that Marner was never seriously considered for the captaincy, which set off another familiar debate about how the organization managed one of its biggest stars.
Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun then stepped in to push back, arguing that Marner did pretty well in Toronto by any reasonable measure and questioning why these complaints are surfacing now. Simmons also revisited long-discussed friction between Marner and Auston Matthews, while weaving in anecdotes about Marners family life, keeping the focus on just how messy the old relationship still looks whenever someone decides to reopen it. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs Stir Trade Buzz As Veterans Tip Balance
The Maple Leafs have spent plenty of time trying to thread the needle between youth and experience, and that theme has come into sharper focus with Sergei Bobrovsky drawing attention as the sort of veteran presence that can steady a team when the games matter most. Around the league, the rise of younger players has changed how clubs build, but the playoff picture still tends to reward teams that can lean on seasoned hands and the habits that come with them.
Toronto is watching that balance closely because the same logic is driving trade chatter elsewhere, too. If the Winnipeg Jets ever decide to reset, Edmonton could be in the market for Mark Scheifele, and the kind of package that would make sense in that scenario would only underscore how much value contenders still place on established talent. For the Leafs, it is another reminder that the path to spring success often runs through veteran depth, even as the league keeps getting younger. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs First McKenna Look Suddenly Feels Less Straightforward
The first real glimpse of Gavin McKenna in Maple Leafs colors may not come as neatly as expected. As he works through the transition from Penn State to a full-time role with Toronto, his participation in the Prospect Showcase is still uncertain, and he has made it clear that a few basic details around his next step remain unsettled. Even something as simple as where he will be living in Toronto has not been finalized yet.
For a fan base eager to see how he fits into the organization, the timing matters. If McKenna misses the showcase, his first game action with the Leafs could shift to the preseason, where the pace and competition are a little less forgiving and the spotlight tends to sharpen quickly. It is not exactly the clean introduction Toronto had in mind, but it is the sort of early wrinkle that can shape the first impression of a highly watched prospect. [Read more 🡒]