{"id":457857,"date":"2026-02-14T14:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T14:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/457857\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T14:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T14:16:11","slug":"leafs-might-look-for-home-run-deal-if-opportunity-presents-itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/457857\/","title":{"rendered":"Leafs Might Look for Home Run Deal If Opportunity Presents Itself"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to NHL Rumours here at Last Word On Hockey. This edition focuses on the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> and one particular piece of chatter making the rounds. The Toronto Maple Leafs are unsurprisingly a major part of ongoing NHL Rumours. This time around, the rumour mill is grinding with talk of one impending unrestricted free agent defenceman being in the team\u2019s sights.<\/p>\n

NHL Rumours: Maple Leafs Have Sights Set on Darren Raddysh<\/a><\/p>\n

Rumour: Notable commentator and former NHLer Nick Kypreos<\/a> raised the question of Tampa Bay Lightning<\/a> blueliner Darren Raddysh potentially ditching Florida sunshine for the bright lights of Southern Ontario.<\/p>\n

Analysis: In a February 5 piece in the Toronto Star, Kypreos ventured out on a limb to discuss the possibility of the Leafs targeting Raddysh in free agency<\/a>. The comment kicked up a storm on NHL Rumours, fueled by the Maple Leafs\u2019 evident need for offensive help.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cIf there is a team that needs him more than Toronto, please let me know. He\u2019s a right-handed shot with a bomb and would be a perfect upgrade for an ongoing issue on their power play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fair point. But the path for Raddysh to land in Toronto isn\u2019t quite straightforward. The Lightning would first need to let the 29-year-old hit UFA status. That\u2019s something that the Bolts might not let happen.<\/p>\n

But even if the Bolts were unable to sign Raddysh due to salary cap issues, the Maple Leafs would have to contend with salary cap issues of their own. That\u2019s why NHL Rumours related to Raddysh landing in Toronto may not be quite so easy to parse out.<\/p>\n

Raddy to Toronto Talk Neglects One Thing<\/p>\n

The chatter involving Raddysh and the Maple Leafs fails to acknowledge one key thing. While the Leafs have a clear need for a right-shot defenceman to support their blueline, Raddysh could be the hottest UFA defenceman this summer.<\/p>\n

The free-agent field will likely be paper-thin. That\u2019s why a blueliner like Raddysh could garner significant attention. That\u2019s something the Maple Leafs might have to contend with. And it doesn\u2019t guarantee that they\u2019ll be able to get ahead of other teams.<\/p>\n

Could the Maple Leafs find themselves in a bidding war for Raddysh? That\u2019s one possibility that NHL Rumours don\u2019t account for. That is, of course, unless the Lightning find a way to lock Raddysh up before he even hits the market.<\/p>\n

Raddysh Solves Major Need for Maple Leafs<\/p>\n

Now, the entire reason why this conversation has gained any sort of traction is the Leafs\u2019 apparent need. The loss of<\/a> defenceman Chris Tanev<\/a> has left a big hole in the team\u2019s right side.<\/p>\n

While Raddysh is not a shutdown blueliner like Tanev, he\u2019s an upgrade over what the club currently has. That\u2019s why NHL Rumours won\u2019t go away until Raddysh signs another contract elsewhere.<\/p>\n

That said, the Leafs should take Raddysh\u2019s season this year with a grain of salt. He\u2019s been steady in his first two full seasons. But his sudden breakout may be more of an outlier than a harbinger of things to come.<\/p>\n

Yes, the chatter will not go away ever for the Maple Leafs. But some NHL rumours seem more realistic than others. This rumour is one of those that seem implausible. Then again, anything can change. Raddysh is from Toronto. That connection might be the determining factor for the Leafs to land a blueline solution.<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Peter Creveling-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome back to NHL Rumours here at Last Word On Hockey. This edition focuses on the Toronto Maple…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5106],"tags":[2580,5,20,5172,4,66,31,10372,5171],"class_list":{"0":"post-457857","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-maple-leafs","8":"tag-darren-raddysh","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-maple-leafs","11":"tag-mapleleafs","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-toronto","14":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","15":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs-rumours","16":"tag-torontomapleleafs"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116069412662172180","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457857","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=457857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/429308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}