Darren Raddysh didn't cost a lot of assets to bring in but his new contract sure costs a ton, but Darren Pang believes it's a deal that's worth the heavy price.
The first big splash of the Maple Leafs' offseason was acquiring defenceman Darren Raddysh in a sign-and-trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning. It only cost them a fifth-round pick but they took on his brand-new eight-year, $68-million contract. It makes him their highest paid defenceman, but coming off 22 goals and 70 points - it's not a bad investment.
Especially for a team who was desperate to add an explosive shot from the back and someone who can help steady the power play without sacrificing defence. He's not an elite defender by any means, but he's a step up over Morgan Rielly and as a right-handed shot is a a premium asset to have.
Many scoffed at his deal at first though, as it was a heavy investment for a player who had never had more than 35 points in a season prior to last year and it may have been a matter of one standout season as opposed to him blooming later into his career.
Darren Pang knows that Darren Raddysh's importance is worth the price
But one person who didn't is former NHL goalie and analyst Darren Pang. Appearing on the Leafs Morning Take podcast, Pang was pressed about what he thought of Raddysh's deal and his belief is that the money is well worth is considering what's being improved:
Darren Raddysh is a really good defenceman, and he's got great character. A lot of teams knocked on that door but were afraid of the price; I get it.
But if the Maple Leafs say, we need a right-hand shot that's going to run our power play and get us back on track with Auston Matthews, the dollar figure shouldn't matter to the general public.
He's got a point. Toronto has lacked a true power-play killer and while Morgan Rielly has shown glimpses of being a great quarterback, the consistency isn't there and he's anemic to letting it fly.
Compare that to Raddysh who had 22 goals including nine from the dead centre of the point, so the plan is clear: Give him room and let him fire away.
He had 10 of his goals on the power-play and now that the team has a real playmaker in Gavin McKenna - not to mention Auston Matthews and John Tavares' playmaking ability, and suddenly you have a very dangerous group.
The contract is going to have a lot more focus than the point total alone
Honestly, $8.5-million is a lot, but if we look at how it'll appreciate with the rising cap, his $8.5M hit now is only going to be a hit of $6.54-million in 2029-30 and when he's in the last year of his deal, it'll only be a $5.2-million hit based off projected cap totals.
So basically, if the cap keeps going up and it's projected total of $162.3-million in cap space, Raddysh's hit is going to be pretty minuscule in the grand scheme of things.
But that deal only looks good if he actually does what he was brought in to do. If Raddysh can immediately be a factor on the power-play and show that last year wasn't a fluke, then honestly it's money well spent.
If he struggles to get going however, and we're looking at a player who has only a couple of goals come the Christmas break, then we may have a problem on our hands. He had 27 points last year at that time including eight goals.
For context, Morgan Rielly had 24 points heading into that break but only had five goals in total and four power-play points. Raddysh had more than double that (9) while also scoring four goals on the PP alone.
That's what you're paying for, and if John Chayka wants to avoid any buyer's remorse then he better cross his fingers that Raddysh's explosive output wasn't a one-off.
But it's a risk that Toronto had to take because otherwise it would likely come with another dismal season that will only make things worse before they start getting better.
Do you think the Maple Leafs overpaid for Darren Raddysh this offseason?
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