The Toronto Maple Leafs are set to acquire defenseman Darren Raddysh from the Tampa Bay Lightning in a sign-and-trade deal.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported early Friday morning that the Maple Leafs and Lightning are working on a side-and-trade deal that could be done later in the day.
“Late-night news: Don’t expect this to be finalized until the morning, but there is word the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning are working on a sign-and-trade for Darren Raddysh. The 30-year-old defenceman had a breakthrough 2025-26 with 22 goals and 70 points,” Friedman wrote on X.
Late-night news:
Don’t expect this to be finalized until the morning, but there is word the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning are working on a sign-and-trade for Darren Raddysh.
The 30-year-old defenceman had a breakthrough 2025-26 with 22 goals and 70 points
At this point, we do not know what the final trade details are, but the benefit to working out a sign-and-trade deal would be that Tampa Bay can sign Raddysh to an eight-year contract, which would theoretically spread out the cap hit.
The Maple Leafs made a sign-and-trade deal with the Vegas Golden Knights last year, sending Mitch Marner for Nicolas Roy, with the benefit being that the Golden Knights got Marner for eight years and thus lessened his cap hit.
For the Lightning, the benefit is simple, as they will acquire an asset for a player who was going to leave as a free agent on July 1.
By sending Raddysh to Toronto, which is his hometown team, both Tampa Bay and Toronto will benefit from the trade. The Maple Leafs will pick up a much-needed defenseman and likely have him under contract for eight years, while the Lightning will pick up an asset for a player who was already leaving.
Specutatively speaking, the Maple Leafs could send the Lightning the 85th overall pick in next week’s NHL draft, which they just acquired this week as part of the Joseph Woll trade with the Philadelphia Flyers.
It’s no surprise that the Maple Leafs wanted Raddysh, as he was the best free-agent defenseman on the board. The team was set to “absolutely covet” him, and now they have their man. By picking him up in a sign-and-trade deal with the Lightning, the Maple Leafs do not have to bid against other teams in free agency.
For Raddysh, obviously, he wanted to come home to Toronto, which is why he is willing to forgo free agency to join the Maple Leafs.
As far as what his contract will be, we do not know yet, but if it’s for eight years, look for it to be somewhere in the $7 million to $8 million range per season.
After scoring 70 points in 73 games this past season for the Lightning, Raddysh emerged as one of the top defensemen in the NHL, and he even garnered Norris Trophy votes.
There is obviously some risk here, since Raddysh doesn’t have a long track record, plus his numbers were elevated when he was on the ice with NHL Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov.
Still, 70 points from a defenseman is nothing to scoff at, and the Maple Leafs’ defense certainly looks better with Raddysh on the team’s blueline than without him on it.
We’ll see what contract he gets and what the Maple Leafs gave up in the sign-and-trade deal, but overall, this was a much-needed move by a Maple Leafs team that needed an upgrade on defense.
Adam Martin Adam Martin is a sports journalist with over 15 years of experience. He has a speciality in MMA, while also covering the Big 4 Sports. Adam is currently a contributor to Heavy.com, with previous experience working for The Toronto Star, Sportsnet, theScore, Bookies, BJPenn.com, and MMAOddsbreaker.com. More about Adam Martin
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