When the New York Rangers signed Taylor Raddysh to a two-year deal back in July, the expectations were that he would be a fixture in their bottom six. Sure, no one was expecting Raddysh to be a major contributor on offense, but he could be a solid complementary piece. He's someone who could help set up plays and provide a little physicality. The type of player every team likes to have on their third and fourth line.
However, so far this season, Raddysh has left a lot to be desired. Even with his expectations being low, he's still nowhere near the player the Rangers and fans thought he would be. Things came to a head on Sunday night when he was a healthy stretch against the Vegas Golden Knights. This needs to be a wake-up call for Raddysh. It's time for him to start producing, or else he could find himself out of the lineup.
Taylor Raddysh needs to turn it around before he's out of the lineup permanently
In 30 games this season, Raddysh has recorded five goals and two assists for seven points. While these numbers are already bad enough, they get worse the deeper you dig. Since the start of November, Raddysh has only registered two assists. That means in 16 of the last 18 games, Raddysh has contributed next to nothing. To make matters most, nearly half of his season point total came in the October 23rd game against the Sharks when he had a hat trick.
His advanced metrics do not show signs of improvement. According to Natural Stat Trick, he has a 47.22 CF%, a 58.82 GF%, and a 47.84 xG%. This means that he is giving up more goals and opportunities than he is producing. Raddysh is pretty much a net negative on the ice, and it's hurting the Rangers. Sure, he's not the main reason why the team is struggling, but he's not doing much to improve things.
If Raddysh continues this poor play, his playing time could be in serious jeopardy. As mentioned before, Raddysh is not the main problem, but he's one of the easiest problems to fix. With him having only a $1.5 million cap hit, there is not a lot of pressure to play him. It's a contract that does not take up a lot of cap space, so it's easy to put him in the press box and not feel like you're wasting cap space.
There are plenty of young forwards hungry for an opportunity. On the roster alone, guys like Brett Berard and Jaroslav Chmelar are two young forwards looking to find consistent ice time. They could easily be Raddysh's replacement. The Rangers also have prospects like Gabe Perreault and Brennan Othmann in Hartford. While they would rather have them develop with the top six minutes in the AHL, they could be called upon if things with Raddysh worsen.
Being scratched against Vegas should be a wake-up call for Raddysh. It should show him that his spot in the lineup is not guaranteed, and if things do not change, he can easily find himself out of the lineup.