The Toronto Maple Leafs are facing a massive offseason when it comes to the short-term and long-term outlook of their franchise. After shockingly missing the playoffs in 2025-26, the Maple Leafs completely cleaned house this offseason by firing general manager Brad Treliving and head coach Craig Berube, replacing them with John Chayka and Jim Hiller, respectively.
Now that new duo has to figure out how to rebuild a team that badly underachieved and has several holes all over its lineup.
Some lottery luck helped by giving them the No. 1 overall pick in this month’s draft.
They also have a healthy amount of salary cap space to play with.
They started spending that cap space on Friday with a sign-and-trade deal that saw them acquire defenseman Darren Raddysh.
The Maple Leafs sent a fifth-round pick to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Raddysh’s free agent rights, and then signed him to an eight-year, $68 million contract that carries the maximum term length (eight years) and an $8.5 million salary cap number per season.
It is the first major, blockbuster player move of the NHL offseason, and it is a massively risky move for the Maple Leafs.
Why Darren Raddysh is a risky move for Maple Leafs
On the surface, Raddysh makes a lot of sense for Toronto.
The Maple Leafs desperately need to upgrade their defense, and Raddysh was going to be one of the top players in a very thin and weak unrestricted free agent market.
He is also coming off a career year that saw him score 22 goals with 70 points in 73 games, making him one of the most productive defensemen in the NHL this past season.
Along with the production, he brings one of the league’s hardest slap shots that could help add an entirely new dimension to their power play and open up more opportunities for that unit.
That’s the good news.
So what’s the downside?
Well, there are a few potential issues.