The Top 25 Under 25 is a collaboration by members of the RawCharge writing staff. Four writers, plus a special guest, ranked players under the age of 25 as of September 1, 2017 in the Tampa Bay Lightning organization. Each participant used their own metric of current ability and production against future projection to rank each player. Now, we’ll count down each of the 25 players ranked, plus Honorable Mentions.
Want to weigh in? Post your own fan ranking here!
The Lightning seem to have great success at drafting 58th overall. They selected Nikita Kucherov in 2011 and Taylor Raddysh in 2016, both of whom are right wingers. Raddysh lit up the OHL this year and was named to Team Canada as part of the U-20 World Juniors, where he put up 5 goals and 1 assist in 7 games. His numbers in his draft year were also very respectable: 24 goals and 49 assists for 73 points in 67 games.
In Erie’s run to becoming the OHL Champions, which earned them a birth in the Memorial Cup—where they lost to Mikhail Sergachev’s Windsor Spitfires 4-3 in the Final—Raddysh put up 12 goals and 19 assists for 31 points in 22 playoff games. In the round-robin tournament, he added 5 goals and 6 assists for 11 points in 5 games.
Raddysh may get a long look at training camp this year, but it is almost a certainty that he is returned to Erie this season. He still needs to work on his skating ability, but that should be no problem for Barb Underhill of the Lightning’s staff. She was the master who helped Brayden Point fix that aspect of his game, allowing him to jump straight from juniors to the NHL.
Raddysh somewhat fits the prototypical power forward mold. At 6’2” and 207 pounds, he is already a very large human who is still in his teens. His scoring ability is one of his strongest assets, and I would imagine that this season he will match, if not exceed, his outstanding points total from this past season. Line mate Alex DeBrincat is also turning pro with the Blackhawks this year; therefore, more of the onus will fall on Raddysh to pick up the scoring. Erie centers Dylan Strome (Coyotes) and Anthony Cirelli will be joining the pro ranks, as well.
In all likelihood, Raddysh will start his pro career in Syracuse in the fall of 2018, but if he can fine tune his game and skating ability, he could be on the fast track to the NHL within no time at all.
