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The Official 2026 Off-Season Thread: Revenge of the Nerds

When Taylor was in his draft year, his dad was going around telling everyone how little everyone in the draft class wanted to play in Toronto and they all hoped Toronto wouldn't draft him. Though at the time, it was because the Leafs were loaded with prospects and they didn't love the competition that they'd be faced with for roster spots.

10 years later, the afterthought brother, Darren signs a mega deal for his home team.
 
Preston said:
One thing I want to add about Raddysh (ME already touched on this of course) is that I don't think this was just 1 year of him turning into that dude. I think he was already there, at least offensively, in 24-25. He just didn't get the same icetime or PP1.

Points per 60
24-25: 1.49 (6th in the NHL)
25-26: 1.56 (10th in the NHL)

So in the last 2 years he's been producing at a 1.53 p/60 clip (6th in the league) on a 146 game sample. The guys ahead of him: Dahlin, Makar, Werenski, Bouchard, Hutson. Pretty pretty good company. He's just ahead of Carlson, Fox and Hughes, for reference. Honestly this is by far the best case for this signing for me. There just haven't been any shit or even mediocre d in recent years that are top 6 in the NHL over a 146 game sample on 5 on 5 points per 60. This wasn't a fluke. He's for real IMO.


Montour's 2 seasons that led to him getting that monster contract with the Kraken had him scoring at a 1.09/60 clip in 146 games. Even if you zero in on his 1 breakout year in 22-23, he was a 1.39 guy. I don't know if he's gonna live up to #1 d status, but I think I'm not too afraid of the Montour comparisons. I think there's plenty there that shows that Darren is better.
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Granted if you adjust for the teams they play on and the amount of 5 on 5 goals they produce, he'd be behind those guys. But not by a significant amount. And it would still result in him being in the top 10, just probably 10th instead of 6th. Which, again, tends to be a pretty meaningful sign that the player is realgud.

And going back to the Montour comp, that guy benefited greatly from a very very high scoring team as well. And he still didn't do anything close to what Raddysh did.
 
leafman101 said:
I hate to break it to everyone, but Raddyish isn't moving away from being on a very high scoring team.
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Yeah now the narrative is that Raddysh won't have Kucherov feeding him pucks on the PP so he'll be shit. I guess the Leafs have nobody that can feed a puck back to the point. Plus they're about to draft New Kucherov (tm).
 
Well, I went to sleep nervous about what we gave up because I read the comments to Elliotte’s post, but so happy that it’s the minimal return that TB should get for the exclusive negotiation rights and not something stupid. Chayka is building my trust in management back up. Perfect risk reward play.

Like the rest of the world, I don’t love 8 years, but it was necessary and the price is fair, and he’s exactly what we need. And a Toronto boy who obviously wanted to play for his home team as soon as he got the shot with the intent of retiring a Leaf.

I still don’t believe Rielly is going anywhere. This does for sure spell the end for Carlo though. I think the D might be done after he goes, with Danford needing to get a shot to make the team. If he does, I actually think that OEL would be the one to go, not Rielly. He’s a couple of years older, riding a wave at the moment, only a couple cheap years left on that deal - he’d easily bring back a 1st. He’s the one who’d go, if anyone else goes after Carlo, which is a bummer because I think he’s great, but I think he’s staying.

Next deal is for sure for a center, and a bunch of the leftover fluff like Carlo and Maccelli will be out the door, which I can’t wait for. Adding Raddysh also closes the door on all this Knies bullshit talk. As I said we should, we got the 1D for free. Want another top pair guy, just get Andersson. Knies isn’t going anywhere.
 
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