From Beauvillier to Wilson, we’re taking a look at and grading the 2024-25 season for every player who laced ‘em up for the Washington Capitals for a significant number of games during the campaign, with an eye towards 2025-24. Next up, Taylor Raddysh.
The Bio:
#16 | Right Wing | Shoots: Right
Height: 6’3” | Weight: 200 | Born: February 18, 1998
Birthplace: Caledon, ON | Acquired: Signed as a free agent on July 1, 2024
Cap Hit: $1,000,000 | Signed Through: 2024-25 | Expiry Status: Unrestricted Free Agent
The Scouting Report (via EP)
The Stats:
The Charts:
The Key Stat: Raddysh finished the regular season with the team’s third-best xGF% at even strength among forwards (min. 300 minutes played).
The Good: As a part of the team’s bottom six, Raddysh spent time on both the third and fourth lines and contributed to a pretty decent defensive showing for both while also generating plenty of chances in his own right (or at least being on the ice for those chances). Here’s what that third line looked like, with Raddysh alongside Lars Eller and Andrew Mangiapane:
And here’s what the team’s top trios looked like when it came to xGF% (min. 100 minutes played together)…notice the common denominator on three of the six:
While his offensive production wasn’t the biggest part of his game, he did have the second-best offensive season of his career, putting up seven goals and 27 points – a nice bounceback from a down year with the Blackhawks last season, when he managed just 14 points.
The Bad: While Raddysh could be depended upon to provide some decent defense and helped generate offensive chances, the finishing…well, that left something to be desired. Those seven goals were the second-fewest among the team’s forwards; only Eller had fewer goals for the Caps, and he played in 17 fewer games in DC. He also, for some reason, spent a not insignificant chunk of time on the power play, and generated exactly one power-play point (by contrast, Jakub Vrana had a third of the ice time on the power play before hitting the waiver wire and ended the season with three points on the Caps’ power play).
The Video:
The Discussion: Is Raddysh’s defensive ability enough to balance out his less-than-stellar finishing ability? Raddysh will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1; should the Caps explore bringing him back, and if so, what kind of term/salary would you give him?
The Vote: Rate Taylor Raddysh below on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best) based on his performance relative to his potential and your expectations for the season – so if he had the best year you could have imagined him having, give him a 10; if he more or less played as you expected he would, give him a 5 or a 6; if he had the worst year you could have imagined him having, give him a 1.