The Toronto Maple Leafs have hit the ground running after the completion of the Stanley Cup Final earlier this week, trading Joseph Woll and Simon Benoit to Philadelphia, and naming Jim Hiller as their next head coach. Early Friday morning, a report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman indicates that GM John Chayka is on the verge of completing a sign-and-trade for Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh.
The 30-year-old Toronto native had a career year for the Lightning, scoring 70 points (22 goals, 48 assists), playing on their top pairing, and quarterbacking their power play for most of the season in the absence of future Hall of Famer Victor Hedman. Raddysh was scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent on July 1st in a very thin free agent class, so the preemptive move potentially saves Toronto involvement in a bidding war, allows them to sign the right-handed blueliner to a eight-year max contract to spread the AAV out over a maximum term, and would provide Tampa GM Julien Brisebois some return for a player he would get nothing for in a couple weeks.
The preemptive sign and trade is similar to the deal made with Vegas last June for Mitch Marner, when Toronto signed the winger to an eight-year, $96 million contract and then traded him to the Golden Knights for Nicolas Roy.
There is no indication of what Toronto is giving up to their division rival in the sign-and-trade, but with Tampa fairly bereft of draft capital due to Deals made over the last few seasons, a draft pick would make sense.
Will update
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