Top defenceman Raddysh still without pro deal
Erie Otters defenceman Darren Raddysh must wonder what he has left to prove to NHL scouts.
The 21-year-old Raddysh has piled up points and awards this season, but it’s not produced an NHL contract.
“I’m very surprised,” Otters head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “I don’t know how much more that he has to prove.”
At six-foot-one and 200 pounds, Raddysh has pro size. A year ago, he was named the Western Conference’s best defensive defenceman in the OHL coaches poll. This year, Raddysh was named the best offensive defenceman in the coaches poll after leading all league defencemen in scoring with 16 goals and 81 points in 62 games. He also became the first Erie player to ever win the Max Kaminsky Trophy as OHL defenceman of the year.
“He’s had a great playoff run and it’s hard watching it because here’s a guy that has done pretty much everything he can do and he hasn’t got that contract,” Knoblauch said.
After round-robin play at the 99th MasterCard Memorial Cup, Raddysh was leading all defenceman in scoring and was tied for fifth overall in scoring with two goals and five points in three games.
“I’m not too worried about that,” Raddysh said of a contract. “I let my agent deal with that throughout the year and try to win a Memorial Cup.”
THOMPSON SEEKS ADVICE
Windsor Spitfires head coach Rocky Thompson admits he went looking for help with how to prepare his team to host the tournament after his club was knocked out in the first round of league playoffs.
One person Thompson turned to was Eric Veilleux, who coaches the American Hockey League’s San Antonio Rampage.
Veilleux was head coach of the Shawinigan Cataractes in 2012 when the club was knocked out in the second round of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs. The club was off for more than a month, but regrouped to win the Memorial Cup.
“Eric and I never knew each other, and I just reached out to him and asked him for some advice,” Thompson said. “It was excellent. It made sense and we’re very appreciative for it because it has helped us in our journey here this year.”