Raddysh's production dropped drastically from last season in his contract year. Now the Blackhawks have an interesting decision in front of them.

What happened to Taylor Raddysh and what are the Chicago Blackhawks to do this offseason with the former 20-goal scorer?

It appeared as though the Blackhawks had a productive young player in Raddysh who would help get them through some tough rebuilding years and contribute. But just like that, the glimmer of hope was gone.

The 26-year-old just completed his third full season in the NHL and struggled offensively...in a contract year no less. Raddysh, one of two 20-goal scorers on Chicago's 2022-23 team, saw his production plummet to five goals and nine assists in 78 games this year.

Raddysh finished the season in a 44-game goal-scoring drought. He took 68 shots on goal during the stretch and didn't bury prime chances when he had them.

Some History

The former second-round pick's career started in Tampa Bay, but he was dealt at the March 2022 trade deadline to the Blackhawks as part of the return for Brandon Hagel.

Split between the Lightning and the Blackhawks, Raddysh had a decent first season in the NHL scoring 11 goals and 22 points in 74 games. Then he really turned it on 2022-23. His ice time per game rose to over 16:30 and he found himself playing top-six minutes. The production came fairly evenly throughout the season even though he had a stronger second half. This should've led to another step taken this season at age 26.

After a 20-goal, 37-point season at a cap hit of $758,333 AAV, Raddysh should've been in line for a sizeable raise, but he was only the second year of the three-year deal he had signed with the Lightning before being traded to the Blackhawks. The 2023-24 season was his year to nail down a raise, but things couldn't have gone off the rails for him in a worse way.

With such a fall-off offensively, his ice time only dropped 40 seconds per game this year. This is a noticeable amount, but Raddysh lost over 100 minutes of power-play time this season. 

He gained the same amount back in time on the penalty kill, where coach Luke Richardson liked to use the 6-foot-3, 200-pound forward. This doesn't equate to offensive numbers, but does provide value nonetheless.

In terms of what Raddysh might get on his next contract, he'll likely be looking at under $1 million AAV at one year instead of a multi-year, multi-million AAV extension.

Raddysh hasn't scored since Dec. 14 at Seattle and posted just seven assists in that span. At the very least, he showed an ability to alter his game and still find ways to help the team and be productive by killing penalties.

Closer Look at Goal Scoring

The most interesting part of what happened to Raddysh this season is his drop-off in goals, so let's take a deeper look at that. 

In 241 minutes on the power play in 2022-23, he scored seven goals. This season he scored just once in 132 minutes. He was on the ice for 31 power-play goals last season compared to just eight this season. If Chicago's unit is much less effective, he's going to be as well.

The largest dropoff when looking deeper at Raddysh's shooting and  chances was his shooting percentage this season compared to 2022-23. He dipped from 15.5% to 4.17%. For most players, these are two extremes and he should typically find himself somewhere in the middle, such as with his 10.6% in his rookie year in 2021-22.

Raddysh had an unlucky season with pucks not finding the back of the net. His individual expected goals were 13.96 according to Natural Stattrick and he scored eight fewer. Raddysh had a big dropoff in scoring chances and high-danger chances as well.

In five fewer games played, Raddysh slipped from 142 scoring chances for to 116. He also fell from 82 high-danger chances for to 62. These are big and indicate the best opportunities for a player to find the back of the net.

It's a combination. Raddysh got fewer and fewer scoring chances because he slipped down the lineup by not producing. When he did get opportunities, he couldn't capitalize like he did last season. His shooting percentage probably won't stay below 5%, but whether the Blackhawks want to give him another shot remains to be seen.

The Blackhawks could be throwing away talent if they don't decide to qualify Raddysh as an RFA. He needs a middle to bottom-six role and to find some confidence around the net again.

His decline from last season to this one wasn't due to lack of shooting as he shot at the same rate. A one-year deal might be a possibility. That could give the Blackhawks the chance to either: 1) confirm Raddysh can't score as they had hoped; or 2) prove he can and the team didn't give up on an asset.

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