Raddysh traded to Maple Leafs by Lightning, signs 8-year contract

TORONTO -- Darren Raddysh was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs by the Tampa Bay Lightning for a fifth-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft on Friday. 

As part of the sign-and-trade move, the right-shot defenseman, who could have become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, signed an eight-year contract with Tampa Bay before being sent to Toronto. Financial terms were not disclosed.

"It came together pretty quickly but the opportunity to secure, in our opinion, a top free agent is an organizational win," Maple Leafs general manager John Chayka said.

"It's an aggressive move, it's not without risk of course, but we just felt given the stage we are at and what he brings to the table, we felt it was worth pursuing."

The 30-year-old defenseman had NHL career highs in goals (22), assists (48), points (70), plus-minus (plus-21), power-play goals (10), power-play points (26), game-winning goals (six), shots on goal (212) and ice time per game (22:42) playing in 73 games this season. He nearly matched his point total from his first four seasons in the League when he had 73 points (13 goals, 60 assists) in 176 games. 

Raddysh, who was born in Toronto, had a goal and an assist in seven Stanley Cup Playoff games.

"I couldn't be happier to be joining a great team, a great group of players, and I'm excited to be here for eight years and play for the team I grew up watching," he said.

Raddysh has been on Chayka's radar dating back to the defenseman's time with Erie of the Ontario Hockey League. When Chayka was named general manager of the Arizona Coyotes in 2016, he began closely tracking then-Coyotes top prospect Dylan Strome, who, like Raddysh, played his final season with Erie in 2016-17.

Chayka said he was immediately impressed with the undrafted Raddysh and attempted to sign him with the Coyotes as a free agent before he ultimately signed an AHL contract joining the Chicago Blackhawks organization as an undrafted free agent on May 21, 2018.

"A late bloomer in terms of offensive production (at the NHL level)," Chayka said. "I think for us, we really saw his career as a continual progression and from a points perspective last year it was a large jump. We have a lot of confidence that the fundamentals of his game had consistently improved and there were several jumps that led to this."

The Maple Leafs allowed the second-most goals per game (3.60) in the NHL this season, and see Raddysh having a positive impact in that area.

"The point production is a part of any player's value but the part of the value we were most focused on was his ability to impact the game holistically," Chayka said. "He's a player who plays up against top competition and does quite well, he's a player who breaks the puck out well, he can join the rush and supplement offense, transitions well, defends the blueline well, and when you start adding up all the elements that go into the end result of good production, and the robust play of all of that gives us a lot of confidence that we are getting a defenseman we haven't had in this organization for a long time."

Raddysh has 143 points (35 goals, 108 assists) in 249 regular-season games, all with the Lightning, and four points (two goals, two assists) in 20 playoff games.

The power play is another area where Raddysh is expected to help with one of his assets being an explosive shot from the blue line. Toronto struggled on the power play last season; they ranked last in the NHL at the Christmas break at 13 percent before they improved over the final 46 games to 28.6 percent, which ranked third in the League in that span. The Maple Leafs finished the season 15th in the NHL (21.3 percent).

Raddysh tied for sixth among NHL defensemen with 26 power-play points and led the League with 10 power-play goals.

"The shot is a weapon," Chayka said. "As you are putting together a ghost roster, if you have left shots off the flank, having a right shot up top that can bomb it is an obvious strength. It's just really hard to put those things together at times so when it does come together as a manager, it's really appealing… In this case we do think it's a perfect fit."

It's the second significant player move Toronto has made this week in what has been a whirlwind offseason thus far. 

On Tuesday, the Maple Leafs acquired goalie Samuel Ersson, defenseman Emil Andrae and a third-round pick in the 2026 draft from the Philadelphia Flyers for goalie Joseph Woll and defenseman Simon Benoit.

Chayka said the acquisitions of Raddysh and Andrae were a result of a specific focus on restructuring the defense.

"I thought it was an area we needed to improve upon," Chayka said. "We have some world class forwards where when you get the puck in their hands with time and space, it's going to be a good result for us."

The next day Jim Hiller was named the new coach, replacing Craig Berube, who was fired on May 13. 

All these moves were made by Chayka, who was hired as the Toronto Leafs GM on May 3, along with Maple Leafs legend Mats Sundin, who was hired as an executive adviser. 

Toronto also owns the No. 1 pick in the 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft, which will be held June 26-27 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo. The first round will be June 26 (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS) and rounds 2-7 on June 27 (11 a.m. ET; NHLN, ESPN+, SN). 

The Maple Leafs are expected to take either Penn State forward Gavin McKenna or forward Ivar Stenberg of Frolunda of the Swedish Hockey League.