Leafs Trade for Darren Raddysh + Hire Jim Hiller as Head Coach + NBA Atlantic Division Offseason Preview | Couch Potato Diary cover art

Leafs Trade for Darren Raddysh + Hire Jim Hiller as Head Coach + NBA Atlantic Division Offseason Preview | Couch Potato Diary

Leafs Trade for Darren Raddysh + Hire Jim Hiller as Head Coach + NBA Atlantic Division Offseason Preview | Couch Potato Diary

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have been busy already this offseason, and I am not on board with either move.

Darren Raddysh comes over from Tampa Bay in a sign-and-trade for eight years at $8.5 million. He is exactly the type of defenseman Toronto needs on paper, a puck mover who can quarterback a power play, but the term and the dollar amount on a player coming off his one genuinely good NHL season worries me. I break down why this screams desperation more than smart asset management.

Then the Leafs hire Jim Hiller as their new head coach, and I am skeptical here too. I look at what he actually did and did not do with the LA Kings, whether the analytics-friendly partnership with Toronto's front office is enough to make this work, and why I think this could be oil and water for a Leafs roster that does not resemble the team Hiller had in LA.

Then I kick off the NBA Offseason Preview series with the Atlantic Division, the Brooklyn Nets and the Michael Porter Jr question, the Philadelphia 76ers trying to figure out if Joel Embiid and Paul George still fit the timeline, the Boston Celtics and the swirling Jaylen Brown and Giannis rumors, and the newly crowned champion New York Knicks trying to figure out how to keep this roster together under the second apron.



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