TORONTO — The day after Father’s Day, the newest Toronto Maple Leaf was still thinking about Dad.
Dwayne Raddysh passed away in March after losing his battle with pancreatic cancer. But he raised a Leafs fan and one helluva defenceman in his son Darren, who avoided free agency on Friday by committing to an eight-year, $68-million deal with Dad’s favourite team.
“He recently passed,” Darren Raddysh said Monday, speaking for the first time since returning to his roots.
“Just seeing the smile he had on his face when we’d go to the games, and how much joy it brought to me and my brother (Rangers forward Taylor), it’s something that I cherished, and I know my brother did as well. And just to be able to play here every night, it’s definitely one of his dreams. And I’m happy that I can make that happen for him.”
There is some poetry mixed into Raddysh’s business decision, to be sure.
Yes, the booming right-shot power-play quarterback was trending toward becoming the most coveted offensive defenceman on this summer’s UFA market before Toronto GM John Chayka jumped the queue.
But, Raddysh says, “it means the world” to represent the team so beloved by “the best hockey dad you could ever ask for.”
Dwayne would be the first one in the Raddysh house up at 4 a.m., getting his sons ready for practice. He bought the boys Rollerblades and let them tear around the family basement. And he passed on his love for the Blue and White.
“To be able to put that jersey on, and to be able to play in front of the home fans, it’s awesome,” Raddysh said. “A lot of friends and family have already texted me and are excited. And I’m super excited as well to be joining the Toronto Maple Leafs.”
Ironically, it was Raddysh’s success in rival blue-and-white threads that brought him here.
The late-blooming, undrafted 30-year-old’s AAV had never exceeded six figures, until now.
Raddysh’s 22-goal, 70-point outburst with the Tampa Bay Lightning — a franchise he joined back in 2021-22 — could not have been better timed.
The player sees it as a preparation meeting opportunity.
“I was in and out of the lineup,” he says. “When I was playing, I was playing as a seventh defenceman. Just getting the opportunity to play on power play and get to show my stuff and show what I can do is probably one of the biggest things for this last year.”
While Tampa will hold a special place in Raddysh’s heart, GM Julien BriseBois was not prepared to offer the D-man the type of term or payday Chayka was.
The Leafs showed serious interest in getting ahead of the market Thursday. Raddysh thought of the homecoming as a “no-brainer.” And the Lightning accepted a fifth-round pick for an asset that was bound to leave.
“It came down to just business,” Raddysh says. “I can’t have anything bad to say about the organization and Julian. I think they wanted to go in a different direction than what we wanted to, and ultimately it led to Toronto.”
Raddysh has already heard from new teammates enthused by the addition of one of this off-season’s marquee names. And he had crossed paths with Chayka back in the 2010s, when he played alongside Dylan Strome and Connor McDavid on the Erie Otters. The young executive would watch their practices.
“He’s an analytic guy,” Raddysh says. “Something I like to pride myself on is making sure you’re doing all the right things. And I believe that if you do that, good things will come. And I think he sees it the same way.
“He’s excited about this team, is excited to get the team back to where it needs to be. And there’s a lot of good moving pieces coming, and it’s an exciting time.”
While Chayka admits there is risk in such a hefty investment on a player who will be cashing cheques deep into his 30s, Raddysh is inspired to familiarize himself quickly with his teammates and get working with new coach Jim Hiller, whose L.A. teams were always hard to play against.
“Hopefully start something special,” says Raddysh, who will feature prominently in the top four. “I’m a good two-way defenceman. I like to take pride in my own end first, and I like to take pride in not getting scored on and making sure we're doing the right things and playing the right way. The offence will come after that.”
Before treating Leafs Nation to that elite Howitzer from the point or improving the club’s breakouts with a crisp first pass to the forwards’ blades, Raddysh can take time to simply feel grateful for a deal that, at once, changes his family and honours it.
“Playing in Toronto is something you always dreamed of as a kid,” Raddysh says. “Especially playing the GTHL, you always watch the Leaf games on Saturday nights. And, yeah, everyone pretty much always wants to come back here.”
Where it all began.
2:21
