After making a big splash with the signing of forward Brandon Hegel to an eight-year, $52 million contract, the Tampa Bay Lightning made another move, albeit a much smaller one. The Lightning announced Wednesday that they have inked defenseman Darren Raddysh to a one-year, two-way contract extension that comes with an AAV of $975,000.

Raddysh's extension with the Bolts will not kick in until the 2024-25 NHL season, as his previous deal with the team is still live. He put pen on paper with Tampa Bay in 2022 for a two-year, $1.525 million contract extension.

Raddysh played in only 17 games in the 2022-23 NHL regular season, scoring a goal with two assists, while also recording a 53.1 CF%. Before being called up to The Show last season, the 27-year-old Raddysh played in the AHL for the Syracuse Crunch. There, he paced all Syracuse blueliners with 38 assists and 51 points across 50 games played.

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The Lightning then decided to roll with Raddysh in the 2023 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs wherein he played in all six of the team's games in the first round versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. Unfortunately for Raddysh and the Bolts, they were eliminated from title contention by the Maple Leafs in seven games. In that series, Raddysh scored a goal, had an assist, and finished with a plus/minus of minus-3, while mostly playing alongside Mikhail Sergachev in the top four.

Darren Raddysh is not expected to be a major presence on defense for the Lightning, but there is a chance for him to earn a bigger role.