New York Rangers Hold High Expectations For Newest Winger Ahead Of The 2025-26 Season
Photo credit: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
Chris Drury signed forward and unrestricted free agent Taylor Raddysh in July. The New York Rangers have added a great depth piece who suited up for their rivals in Washington last year. What should we expect from him in 2025-26?
While you you may not know who Taylor Raddysh is, he'll be appearing on the New York Rangers' third line this season.
Raddysh will be a depth addition in a lineup that could use help plugging holes in the bottom-six. He was originally a second-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2016 and made his NHL debut in 2021-22.
The depth forward would suit up for 53 games, and would be shipped to the Blackhawks as part of the Brandon Hagel trade.
Taylor Raddysh's First Year in Chicago and Expectations for The 2025 Season
His first year in Chicago, he'd post his first 20-goal season of his career, scoring 37 points, on a bottom-dwelling roster. His 2nd season wouldn't turn out to be so great either.
Raddysh would only score 5-9-14 in 73 games. After finding a new home with the Washington Capitals the following year, he'd spend the season on the same line with Nic Dowd and Brandon Duhaime.
In 312 minutes together, the trio posted a 51.82 xGF%, according to NaturalStatTrick, on a team that has preached defensive responsibility under Spencer Carbery.
So, he'll be great playing on the defensive side on the ice, but can Mike Sullivan tap into that offensive upside that he lost in two years in the Windy City? Here's what we can expect out of him this year:
He'd bounce back from his 14-point season in Chicago and would show his reliability on the defense.
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). ... 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.
While Raddysh could be depended upon to provide some decent defense and helped generate offensive chances, the finishingwell, 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).
There's a likelihood that he'll find time on the Rangers penalty-kill unit, as Raddysh spent 113 minutes in Chicago with that responsibility.
We don't expect him to be a special, goal-scoring forward, but we could see him line up with Sam Carrick, Matt Rempe, or possibly Jusso Parssinen on the third line.
It seems unlikely he'll be able to replicate his 20-goal season in Chicago here in New York, but we predict he'll stay steady at 27 points this year.
Previously on NY Rangers Insider
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