Lightning Defenseman Possesses Thunderous Shot

The Tampa Bay Lightning boast some of the best players in the game of hockey today. From Steven Stamkos to Nikita Kucherov, to Andrei Vasilevskiy to Victor Hedman – they are a team that is littered with talent up and down the lineup.

Victor Hedman © Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports

For years Zdeno Chara and Al Mackinnis dominated the hardest shot competition at the NHL All-Star game. It’s no secret why blue liners have consistently dominated this aspect of the game.

They typically are relied upon to get shots on net from the point – and the best way to do that is to hit the puck as hard as they can so it gets on net.

The Lightning don’t have a defenseman heading to the All-Star game – they do have one who could compete in the hardest shot competition. Not only that, but he’d probably win it too.

Enter Darren Raddysh.

Darren Raddysh Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

Raddysh is a 27-year old defenseman with 82 career NHL games to his name. In those games he has only taken 106 shots. Of those shots he put two on net in the Lightning’s win against the Minnesota Wild – and one of them was for the record books.

Raddysh had a 102.2 MPH slap shot on Thursday night. It is officially the hardest shot recorded in the NHL over the past three seasons. The previous record holder was Colton Parakyo of the St. Louis Blues – who’s 101.95 MPH shot was taken on March 22, 2022.