When Darren Raddysh first signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning ahead of the 2021-22 season, the move went fairly under-the-radar. The same can be said for when he signed his current contract during the summer of 2023. He was, even at that point, seen by many as a player who could fill in when needed, but he wasn’t going to be a game-changer, or so it seemed. The world of hockey is a funny thing though.
Fast forward a couple of seasons, and Raddysh is currently tied for third in goals scored by a defenseman with Colorado Avalanche’s superstar Cale Makar, and Raddysh has played five less games. The only two ahead of Raddysh are Jakob Chychrun of the Washington Capitals and Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Before this season, Raddysh had only scored 13 goals in the NHL. After his hat trick against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday, he already has 12 in the 2025-26 campaign. “He's just playing with a lot of confidence, a lot of swag, and it's paying off,” head coach Jon Cooper said in his postgame availability. “His shot, it's lethal.”
For Raddysh himself, he’s not too sure what has led to his rapid improvement offensively this season, but one thing certainly sticks out to him. “It's just believing in yourself,” Raddysh said. “Just going out there and believing in what you can do, and you’ve got to get lucky a little bit. Believing in myself has been the biggest thing.”
That confidence isn’t just noticeable to Raddysh and the coaching staff though, it’s been obvious to his teammates and those watching him. “[The] confidence that he's playing with, you see it every night,” Brayden Point said before pivoting his focus. “You see the shot he has, and I think not only how hard it is, but where he places it, he gets it through a lot, and that's obviously big. He's been a big reason why our power play has had any success.”
On the power play, Raddysh has been dominant this season. He leads the Lightning in power play goals with six, Nikita Kucherov and Oliver Bjorkstrand are tied for second with five, and is third on the team in power play points with 11. Usually, it’s Victor Hedman leading the defensemen in that regard. With Hedman out of the lineup for most of this season due to injury though, someone else needed to step up and Raddysh didn’t waste any time.
This season hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Raddysh offensively though. After getting three points in his first two games of the season, he went nine-games without his name on the score-sheet. At one point, he was a healthy scratch, but now it’s safe to say he’s found his rhythm.
With his performance on Saturday, Raddysh became just the third defenseman in Lightning history to score a hat trick. “It's pretty special,” he said postgame. “This organization has a lot of unbelievable players come through here. Just to be a part of this is something special, and I don't take it too lightly.”
While Raddysh’s near point-per-game pace is a massive step forward, his improvement didn’t come entirely out of nowhere. Over the last two seasons, he’s improved offensively at a steady rate. The main outlier that’s led to the increase in production is his shooting percentage, and the amount of shots he’s taking in general.
Over the last two seasons, roughly 5.75% of the shots he took found the back of the net, this season that number has nearly tripled, currently sitting at 14.8%. While it’s hard to say that number is sustainable long-term, he’s also shooting quite a bit more overall. Last season, he had 108 shots in 73 games, this time around he has 81 in 35 games. If that shooting percentage were to taper off to 10%, which is around where Werenski, Makar, and Chychrun sit, Raddysh would still be a very effective player.
Raddysh has spent the majority of the season alongside of J.J. Moser, his offensive skill and ability to move the puck mixes well with Moser’s defensive prowess and physicality. The complimentary nature of that pairing was massively prevalent on Saturday, as they were often matched up against the Sharks’ top scorer, Macklin Celebrini. While Raddysh was scoring his first career hat trick, Moser was causing chaos by throwing two massive hits on Celebrini and, mostly, shutting down his offensive contributions.
“[Raddysh] and Mo have been a great pair together, probably one of the tops in league since they've been together, and there's chemistry,” Cooper said. “When you have that as line mates or defensive pairs, it can pay dividends.”
With his defensive partner already signed to a massive eight-year contract extension, Raddysh’s future in Tampa Bay is still unknown beyond this season as unrestricted free agency looms on the horizon. It’s safe to say though, given his recent production, both sides would be wise to find a way to keep him as a member of the Lightning for years to come.