Darren Raddysh heads into training camp with the Toronto Maple Leafs carrying a season that turned a bargain contract into real buzz.
This week, TSN's OverDrive crew put a number on that buzz, and it was not a small one.
Raddysh put up 70 points last season, 22 goals and 48 assists over 73 games, while playing on a cap hit of just 975,000 dollars.
That kind of production from a defenseman on that kind of contract does not happen by accident.
He also chipped in 10 power play goals and 16 power play assists, numbers that put him deep into the Leafs special teams plan.
Sergei Bobrovsky is part of that same conversation, and his numbers tell a more complicated story.
The veteran goalie posted 20 wins across 52 appearances with a .876 save percentage and four shutouts, hardly a Vezina caliber season.
Why this trio is nothing like Matthews, Marner and Nylander
Yet the OverDrive segment framed Bobrovsky, Raddysh and Gavin McKenna as the trio capable of generating buzz Toronto has not felt since the Matthews, Marner and Nylander era.
Does one big contract year and a rookie who has not played an NHL game yet really stack up to that?
"Between McKenna, Raddysh and Bobrovsky.. those three guys are going to create a buzz unlike we've seen since Matthews, Marner and Nylander.
The guys on the high excitement level from the Maple Leafs entering the season.
It is like comparing a car that had one great tuned up season to one that broke records for a decade.
McKenna arrives as the first overall pick, the centerpiece of a rebuild that new head coach Jim Hiller inherited when he was hired in June.
Bobrovsky is 37 years old and trying to hold down a crease. Raddysh is a depth defenseman who outproduced his contract by a wide margin.
Lumping them together as the new engine of excitement in Toronto is a stretch, and Bob is not buying the full comparison.
Still, the Leafs need a story heading into camp after finishing 32-36-14 with a minus-46 goal differential and closing the year on a seven-game losing streak.
If Raddysh repeats anywhere close to last season and Bobrovsky steadies the net while McKenna adjusts to pro hockey, the buzz will write itself.
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If any one of those three regresses hard, this segment ages fast, and Toronto goes right back to answering the questions it spent all last season avoiding.
Are Raddysh, Bobrovsky and McKenna really the trio that reignites Leafs buzz?
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