Three NHL Players Who Could Be Next Season's Darren Raddysh
Darren Raddysh had a career year seemingly out of nowhere this past season at 30 years old. Which NHL players could do the same this season?
Video Transcript
Well, first off, he's a defenseman, and when you look at the Toronto Maple Leafs and their biggest need and it, it's on the back end.
And I think it's a huge reason why John Cheka, acquired Emil Andre from Philadelphia Flyers, to bolster the back end.
But, you know, this is a big, big swing of the bat for Cheka in getting Raddysh, who comes with- Yeah a lot of warning signs.
I know a lot of people are already bringing up the David Clarkson deal.
You know- Mm-hmm one good year from Raddysh, will it translate to an eight-year successful reign in Toronto, or will be, will this be something that they completely regret?
And, you know, Dave Nonis was famous, who signed David Clarkson- Yeah when he was the GM, of saying, "I'm not worried about year seven," and it was a seven-year deal at the time, "I'm worried about year one.
And in year one, David Clarkson is gonna help this team."
And I think the Toronto Maple Leafs are very much operating under the same kind of idea with Darren Raddysh.
They're not worried about year eight.
They're worried about years one and two, because Auston Matthews is gonna be a UFA very soon.
So these next two years are very important, and I think if Raddysh can do even half of what he did in Tampa Bay last season, then the Toronto Maple Leafs look very much like they could contend for a playoff spot next season.
Ryan?
Yeah.
Well, hopefully not half as much, 'cause he had 70, I think he had about 70 points.
You don't want 35 points.
You've got defensemen who can score 35 points.
Yeah.
But I think, the biggest takeaway for me here is, first of all, it just cost them a late round draft pick, in the sign trade, so that's great.
You know, you basically got, like, a free, you know, a top four defenseman.
You hope he's a top pairing guy.
The, the most interesting thing to me is, based on his breakout season in Tampa Bay, and you hope he can replicate it if you're a Leafs fan, but he had 26 points on the power play.
That was tied with Erik Karlsson.
That was only two or three behind Cale Makar.
So this is a guy that can get it done with the man advantage.
That was somewhere where Toronto hadn't been as strong as you would have assumed they were, and he's got that huge bomb shot from the point.
That brings another element to that power play that already has, you know, Auston Matthews, William Nylander, guys that, you know, have great offense to their game, but now you've got somebody that's gonna have is gonna direct attention to the point and slightly away from those other guys.
So it gives you another shooter on the power play, which I think is really vital for Toronto.
