This hasn’t been the season Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh envisioned for himself.
The 28-year-old had worked the past two seasons to solidify his place in the lineup, and last year he spent a considerable amount of time skating on the top defense pair alongside Victor Hedman.
But Raddysh has spent most of the first month of this season as the odd man out, a healthy scratch as the team’s seventh defenseman.
“I try and be positive,” Raddysh said. “I’m a pretty positive guy. I didn’t envision coming into the season and not playing. But, if that’s what the coaches want, I’m here to help the team win in any way I can. If it means if I’m not playing, that’s who you’re going to go with. I’m not upset about it, but it is making me want to try and push their hand a little bit to where I make sure I’m back playing.”
Raddysh entered last week as a healthy scratch in seven of the Lightning’s previous nine games. But coach Jon Cooper’s decision to go with an 11-forward, seven-defenseman look gave Raddysh ice time that he’s taken advantage of over the past two games.
Thursday, Raddysh had the primary assist, his first point since Oct. 15, on Brandon Hagel’s second-period goal in a 4-1 win over a Jets team that arrived on the heels of the best 16-game start in NHL history. In Saturday’s 4-0 win over the Devils, Raddysh’s first goal of the season came at a critical time, putting the Lightning ahead by two 39 seconds into the third period.
Over the past two games, Raddysh is a combined plus-3; he was minus-3 over his first seven.
Raddysh entered the season thinking he’d have an expanded role. In the offseason, he was told to work on his slap shot from the left circle in case the Lightning wanted to experiment with him at Steven Stamkos’ old spot on the top power-play unit.
Raddysh has one of the fastest shots in the game, especially among right-handed shooters. Last season, his 27 shots between 90-100 mph ranked in the 95th percentile of NHL defensemen, and in January he launched a shot clocked at 102.4 mph, the hardest ever tracked by NHL Edge at the time.
The experiment to replace Stamkos on the power play was short-lived. Raddysh too often deferred to his star teammates instead of pounding opponents with his shot. Without that weapon, Raddysh quickly found himself on the bench. Coaches preferred Nick Perbix as the right-shot defenseman on the third pairing, where the focus is to play responsibly with the puck in the defensive end.
“Just being back in the lineup is a good thing, and just trying to take what the coaches have told me to make myself better and make the team better,” Raddysh said. “I’m just trying to apply that, making sure I’m on the right side of the puck or battling in front of the net, trying to do as much as I can.”
While out of the lineup, Raddysh had a lot of time to work on his game, as scratched players stay on the ice later to work on skills. One of the things Raddysh has tried to improve is his off-side one-timer, where he shoots off a pass coming across his body from his non-shooting side.
He was able to show the product of that work with his goal against New Jersey.
“That’s a tough shot to get off,” defenseman Victor Hedman said. “But it says a lot about the quality that he has, and he brings it every time he’s in the lineup. We’ve had back-to-back games where we’ve gone seven D, and it’s paid dividends for us.”
Executing the off-side one-timer is all about footwork and positioning. As the puck rolled toward him in the high slot after Anthony Cirelli’s faceoff win in the left circle, Raddysh skated around the puck, then pivoted into a slap shot as Devils center Paul Cotter skated toward him.
Goaltender Jacob Markstrom appeared to be caught off guard as Raddysh’s shot beat him under the blocker. Raddysh returned to the bench smiling.
Off the faceoff, in the net!#SmoothAs | @tullamoredew pic.twitter.com/lQrYuaO0P3
— Lightning on FanDuel Sports Network (@FDSN_Lightning) November 17, 2024
“We’ve kind of worked on (shots off faceoffs) a little bit after practice,” Raddysh said. “I like that shot, pretty much my entire career. We’ve tried to work on an off-side one, too, because the puck does actually come quite a bit on that off side, so we’ve been working on it.
“When I was coming back to the line, all the guys were laughing. Practice like you play, so it’s pretty funny it worked out.”
