Will Darren Raddysh re-sign with the Tampa Bay Lightning, or will he test free agency?
The Chris Johnston Show: Chris Johnston and Julian McKenzie on the Embrace The Tank episode on Tampa Bay Lightning pending UFA defenseman Darren Raddysh. Will Raddysh hit free agency, or can they re-sign him?
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Johnston: “And look Darren Raddysh, what a great story. He’s almost at 60 points, right shot defense.
McKenzie: “How does Tampa keep doing this, man? It feels like every year there’s like a defenseman that they found who’s turned himself into an everyday player that no one’s heard of, or at least has been very low on people’s radars. They just, they have incredible pro scouting.
Johnston: “Yeah, well, they have maybe the best GM in the league, too, in Julian BriseBois. He’s very, you know, I would say the reason that Darren Raddysh probably won’t sign in Tampa is because they’re not likely to be the team that now pays him an insane amount for that season.
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I’m not saying 100% it won’t happen. Let’s see how things play. There’s still, there’s still time. And look, the Lightning do have a history of convincing players to sign long-term deals and maybe taking a little less money and making things work. And so, that’s obviously on the table too as an outcome here.
But you know, they’re just incredibly patient and smart, and they, he’s not afraid of a hard decision, right? Like they he got Ryan McDonough to waive at no-trade clause when he didn’t want to. Coming off a third straight appearance in the Cup Final. I know they since required him. They walked away from Steven Stamkos, a franchise legend, after exploring ways to try to keep him.
You know, I’m sure, though, there’s a point that they’ll go to keep Raddysh. But if, if the market is just too big for him, if the opportunities are too enticing, you know, they’ll let them walk, and they’ll, they’ll work on finding the next guy.
I mean, it’s more teams should be copying what they do. Now, I realize I’m saying that, knowing that they have a core that it’s hard to find. Like they got Nikita Kucherov second round and Brayden Point in the third round, and even (Andrei) Vasilevski late first rounder. And then they’ve kept those players their entire careers. And they’ve been the backbone, along with Victor Hedman and Stamkos and some others that helped, you know, fuel all those cup runs.
So, you know, it’s, it’s easier to, I guess, fill around the margins when you have the main when you have the main squares occupied by the right people. But, yeah, I mean, tip of the Cap to the Lightning. I, I’ve got immense respect for them, just the way they’ve, they’ve managed to stay in the fight.
And, look, they’ve been a they’re feeling it like, what’s interesting to me is sub plot to this playoffs, Colorado’s feeling it because they haven’t won a series, or they’ve won one round, I think since they were they won the cup, right? Well, Tampa went to that cup and lost to the Avalanche. They haven’t had a cup run since then, like they haven’t had a long run since then.
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So, you know, while it feels like they’re always in the mix, because they’ve been two really good teams, that they both kind of had playoff success, elude them in recent years here, and so I got to think the urgency levels are even higher.
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