Winners and Losers of Maple Leafs-Lightning Darren Raddysh Sign-and-Trade Deal
The NHL offseason is officially in full swing.
After completing a goalie swap earlier this week, the Maple Leafs made another significant move on Friday, completing a sign-and-trade deal for the Lightning's Darren Raddysh.
In exchange for preventing Raddysh from going to market, the Leafs surrendered a fifth-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
Is this a good deal for Toronto? How does the trade affect the free-agent market?
It's time for some Winners and Losers.
Winner: Darren Raddysh
1 of 5
Let's first start with the player himself: Raddysh is getting paid after a strong season with Tampa.
The 30-year-old defenseman just posted career highs across the board with 22 goals, 48 assists for 70 points in 73 regular-season games. He was also a weapon on the power play, tallying 10 goals with the man advantage and 26 points overall.
Not bad for an undrafted free agent who only got regular playing time during the 2023-24 season.
If you're looking into advanced statistics, Raddysh excels in that area as well. He had a 61.31 Corsi rating this season, along with a 62.63 expected goal percentage according to Natural Stat Trick. In other words, the ice was tilted towards the opponents' end when Raddysh on the ice for the majority of the time.
There is a chance that Raddysh could have made more money on the open market if he had gone to Free Agency, but an eight-year contract for an $8.5 million average annual value is still a handsome reward for him, with the added security of staying in Toronto for years to come.
Winners: Maple Leafs' Hopes for Keeping Auston Matthews
2 of 5
It's been more than a whisper this offseason that Auston Matthews' time in Toronto could be coming to an end sooner rather than later.
The Leafs' captain has two more seasons left on his contract, and with the poor showing this season, some wondered whether Matthews wanted pastures new. Adding a dynamic offense defenseman like Raddysh will alleviate some of Matthews' concerns about the Maple Leafs being contenders in the last couple of years of his deal.
Is it enough to make certain the Olympic Gold Medalist will stay a Leaf throughout his career? Probably not.
But it's a good start to the offseason and shows that the Leafs' new front office means business.
Losers: Tampa Bay Lightning
3 of 5
Technically, this is a trade, but the reality is that the fifth-round pick the Lightning got from the Leafs is likely not to turn into anything for the NHL roster any time soon.
The Bolts lose a huge piece of their defensive corps from last season and will have to find a way to replace Raddysh's numbers and minutes in a very weak free-agent market. To pile on, there's age on the blue line: Victor Hedman missed time last season and is 35, and Ryan McDonagh is 37.
Oh, by the way? Raddysh just went to a division rival.
There's time to find a solution for general manager Julien Brisebois, but he'll have to be creative in the trade market or hope for an internal solution to emerge.
Loser: NHL Free Agency
4 of 5
The 2026 NHL Free Agency was supposed to have some of the top names in hockey hitting the open market: Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Artemi Panarin and Kirill Kaprizov were some of the stars that were going to get a massive payday and turn July 1 into a frenzy.
Yeah, about that ...
The class is completely depleted of top players, with the likes of McDavid deciding to sign extensions despite the NHL salary cap increasing.
With Raddysh off the market, it leaves Alex Tuch as likely the best free agent available. Tuch is a solid player, but nowhere near the game-changer teams would have hoped for.
Winner: NHL Trade Rumors
5 of 5
The good news is that if you're a fan of NHL rumors, teams will need to dip into the trade market even more in order to improve.
We've already seen trade requests from Dylan Larkin and Darnell Nurse, as well as a likely trade involving Vincent Trocheck.
We may not get the big offseason in terms of signings. But trades? You're about to see a whole boatload of them.
.jpg?w=480 "NHL Trade Block Big Board")
.png?w=600 "Skubal Sends Warning to Tigers")
.jpg?w=600 "Update on Shedeur's battle for Browns QB1")
