{"id":404030,"date":"2026-01-12T21:28:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T21:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/404030\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T21:28:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T21:28:17","slug":"darren-raddysh-makes-the-most-of-his-opportunity-with-several-starters-injured","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/404030\/","title":{"rendered":"Darren Raddysh makes the most of his opportunity with several starters injured"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh netted his first NHL hat trick against the San Jose Sharks to become only the third defenseman in franchise history to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty special feeling,\u201d Raddysh said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it hit me until after the game when I had a bunch of text messages.\u201d<\/p>\n

With injuries to several Lightning defensemen, Raddysh is having a full-fledged breakout season with his increased playing time.<\/p>\n

Not only does he have the fourth-most points on the team (12 G\u201437 pts), but he also has the fifth-most in the NHL among defensemen.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou lose (captain Victor) Hedman, and (Ryan) McDonagh, and (Emil) Lilleberg, and (Erik) Cernak, countless guys we\u2019ve lost,\u201d head coach Jon Cooper said. \u201cSomeone has to come in and grab the reins. Raddy has been one of those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raddysh set the highest average shot speed for a hat trick on record at 93.16 mph against the Sharks.<\/p>\n

He also has two of the three hardest shots that have resulted in a goal this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got a bomb, been hitting the net for once,\u201d forward Nick Paul said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if he\u2019s changed his curve, he\u2019s been great back there. When you shoot it that hard, sometimes he puts it straight through the goalie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an asset, it\u2019s a weapon,\u201d Cooper added. \u201cWhen you have it. Especially proven in the San Jose game the way he can pound those pucks is big for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raddysh is making the most of his opportunity. No one has been more impressed than his line-mate J.J. Moser.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty easy, pretty awesome,\u201d Moser said. \u201cHe does a great job moving the puck and moving his feet, being in good position. It\u2019s a fluid game. I think we complement each other well. It\u2019s a fluid game, which makes it fun to play with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably been my favorite year playing hockey,\u201d Raddysh added. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a great group of guys here. I think we\u2019ve got something special here.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Family mourns Brandon High School student killed by train<\/p>\n

Jewell McMillan, Jamar’s mother, tells Tampa Bay 28 reporter Annette Gutierrez she didn’t realize Wednesday night would be the last time she’d see her son alive<\/p>\n

‘I’m really heartbroken’: Family mourns Brandon High School student killed by train<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh netted his first NHL hat trick against the San…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5105],"tags":[7136,7137,12262,50989,50990,5,189,4,48187,540,92,7138,5168,5167,7139,7140],"class_list":["post-404030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-abc-action-news","tag-abc-action-news-sports","tag-bolts","tag-bolts-breakout-star","tag-breakout-star","tag-hockey","tag-lightning","tag-nhl","tag-raddysh","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-tampa-bay-sports","tag-tampabay","tag-tampabaylightning","tag-wfts","tag-wfts-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115884255108408491","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}