Raddysh named Lightning nominee for Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy

Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh is in the middle of a historic season.

The path to a career year has been a story of perseverance for the 30-year-old defenseman, but Raddysh has established himself as one of the premier offensive defensemen in the entire NHL.

The league has noticed, and on Wednesday the Tampa Bay chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) announced Raddysh as their nominee for the 2026 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

Raddysh wasn’t playing in every game to start the season but stepped up after multiple injuries on the Lightning blue line and hasn’t looked back—he is in the midst of a career season, scoring 21 goals and 48 assists for 69 points in 71 games for the Lightning.

He is playing a career-high 22 minutes, 52 seconds per game to lead Tampa Bay this season, and his 10 power-play goals lead all NHL defensemen. His 21 goals this season tie for fourth among all defensemen in the league, and he ranks seventh in the league for points.

“I think he was just trying to round out some other parts of his game, but his confidence level now with the puck and what he can and can't do, it's taken him a couple years to kind of figure that out in this league…His confidence level’s been big since he's been on the power play full time, and he's shooting that puck with confidence,” Cooper said. “And anytime you can shoot it as hard as he can, that really helps. But good on him. You always like to see good guys get rewarded, and Raddy’s a good guy.”

Just last week, his 21st goal against the Boston Bruins on April 4 established a new franchise record for most goals by a defenseman in a single season.

“It's been fun,” Raddysh said after breaking the record. "It's been a great group this year, and I think we’ve got something special,” he said. “I’m pretty fortunate to play with a lot of really good hockey players. It's been a lot of fun, and hopefully we can continue this.”

The defenseman’s career season is in the midst of a difficult year personally following the loss of his father, Dwayne, to a battle with pancreatic cancer in March.

“He bought us our first rollerblades when we were young, and we were skating around in the basement when we were two years old,” Raddysh said of his father earlier this season. “From the start, he always had a hockey stick in our hand. He was always the first one to get up at four in the morning to take us to the rink, and he'd literally rush home from work and make sure we were always on time. We were never late.

“He is the best hockey dad you could ever ask for.”

Writers from all 32 NHL cities nominate one player from the team they cover for the award. The list is dwindled to three finalists, and the winner will be chosen through a PHWA poll at a later date.