UFA2B — Part 1: Darren Raddysh
UFAs to Be | July 1, 2026 Free Agency Series
UFA2B is an ongoing free agency preview series focusing on the top available players. We will take deep dives..This will be paired with the Rumor Chart later this week...
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There are breakout seasons, and then there is what Darren Raddysh did in 2025-26. What the Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman produced over 73 games this past season wasn't just a career year...it was the kind of season that rewrites a player's identity and, as of July 1, 2026, is about to rewrite his bank account in a very significant way. Raddysh posted 22 goals and 48 assists for 70 points, finished plus-21, averaged 22 minutes and 42 seconds of ice time per night, and ranked among the top ten scoring defensemen in the entire NHL. He did all of this on a contract worth $975,000 per season. That number, more than any other in this year's UFA class, will be changing...
Raddysh is 29 years old...he turns 30 in February 2027..and he did not come up the way most elite offensive defensemen do. He was never drafted. There was no first-round pedigree, no headlines out of the OHL, no prospect buzz. He scratched and clawed his way to the NHL the hard way, putting in time in the AHL until Tampa Bay eventually gave him a real opportunity with real minutes, real power-play time, and real responsibility. Once they did, it turned out that the ingredients were already there. What Raddysh needed was not development...it was trust. And when Jon Cooper and the Lightning staff gave it to him, he repaid it with one of the most quietly stunning individual seasons a defenseman has had in the NHL in recent memory.
What He Brings
Let's start with the obvious: Raddysh is an NHL unicorn...a right-shot defenseman. In today's NHL, that alone puts him in a category of scarcity. Left-handed defensemen are plentiful; clean, skilled, puck-moving right-shot blue-liners who can quarterback a power play and eat top-pair minutes are rare enough that teams have traded first-round picks for far lesser versions of the player Raddysh showed himself to be this season. He is 6-foot-1, 202 pounds, skates well, moves the puck efficiently through the neutral zone, and possesses a point shot that Lightning coach Jon Cooper described bluntly as "lethal." It is not an exaggeration. Raddysh fired 212 shots on goal in 73 games...a remarkable volume for a defenseman — and his release is quick enough from the point that it creates consistent problems for penalty killers. Ten of his 22 goals came on the power play, making him one of the more dangerous offensive weapons in the league on the man advantage.
The underlying numbers back up every bit of the counting-stat story. His Corsi-for percentage of 57.0 percent at even strength ranked among the very best possession-driving defensemen in the league, which means that when Raddysh was on the ice, his team controlled the puck more often than not. He logged 68 blocked shots, which speaks to the defensive awareness and compete level that makes him a legitimate two-way option rather than a one-dimensional offensive piece. His plus-21 rating led all Tampa Bay skaters. His six game-winning goals were the kind of clutch-moment contributions that coaches and teammates notice when they are deciding whether a player belongs in high-leverage situations. He absolutely belongs.
The Honest Question Every Team Will Ask
Here is the part that every general manager will wrestle with...Raddysh will be 30 when he signs his next contract, and prior to this season, he had totaled just 73 points in 176 career NHL games. He is not a player whose trajectory has been a steady ascent from junior hockey to the AHL to a clear NHL starring role. He is a player who, essentially, went from solid depth piece to elite offensive defenseman in the span of one season. The question...and it is a fair one...is whether what we saw in 2025-26 is who Darren Raddysh genuinely is, or whether it was the product of a specific system, a specific set of zone-start advantages, favorable linemates, and a shooting percentage that will inevitably regress toward the mean.
The honest answer is that no one knows for certain, and that ambiguity is actually what makes his free agency so fascinating. What is knowable is this: his underlying metrics were elite, not just his counting stats. A 57-percent Corsi number is not a mirage. The ice time he was given...nearly 23 minutes a night was earned, not gifted. And his power-play production was built on a genuinely dangerous shot, not empty zone-time. More than a few teams will take the risk.
The Money
Raddysh is coming off a two-year deal worth $975,000 per season. Saying he is due for a raise is the understatement of the entire 2026 offseason. The comparables his camp will use are straightforward: J.J. Moser's four-year deal at $6.75 million per year in Tampa Bay serves as one benchmark, and the broader market for offensive right-shot defensemen who drive possession and run a power play points firmly toward the $6.5 to $8 million AAV range on a term of five to seven years. Some projections have pushed the ceiling past eight million given the genuine scarcity of what Raddysh offers. With the salary cap projected to jump to $104 million for 2026-27, teams have more room to make commitments of this size, and Raddysh will be the beneficiary of that timing.
Potential Suitors
Tampa Bay will try to keep him. They have said as much, and with an estimated $15.2 million in projected cap space for 2026-27, they have the financial framework to make an offer. But the Lightning also have Nikita Kucherov's eventual extension looming on the horizon, and whether they can get to eight million per year on a long-term deal for a player who just had his age-29 season is a genuine question. The Lightning have been exceptional at identifying and developing overlooked defensive talent, and they will not simply wave goodbye to what Raddysh has become.
If he reaches the open market, however, the bidding will be fierce. The Toronto Maple Leafs — Raddysh's hometown team..have been l inked to his name throughout the season, and with the Leafs perpetually searching for a reliable offensive presence on the right side of their blue line, the fit is almost too obvious to ignore. The New York Rangers, who have invested heavily in building an elite defense corps, would give Raddysh a chance to play alongside Adam Fox on one of the most talented defensive pairings in the league. The Flyers awful Power Play would immediately get rejuvenated..The Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes, both organizations that prioritize defensemen who can skate and move the puck, round out the most serious group of potential suitors.
The Bottom Line
Darren Raddysh is among the better stories in the 2026 UFA class, and he may well be the best value signing available...depending entirely on what number a team is willing to commit. An undrafted kid from Toronto who spent years grinding in the minors, he got his shot, delivered a top-ten defensive season, and arrives at July 1 as the most coveted blue-liner on the open market. Whatever team lands him is getting a player who has proven he can carry top-pair responsibilities, run a power play, drive possession, and deliver in big moments. Whether at $6.5 million or $8 million, that skill set — in this era, at this position — is worth every penny.
Next in UFA2B: Jaden Schwartz — what does a 34-year-old Cup champion bring to a contender on a short-term deal?