The Toronto Maple Leafs just got confirmation of their worst-case scenario after John Chayka's costly error

Darren Raddysh put up 70 points in 73 games this season, and the Toronto Maple Leafs just made sure Tampa Bay won't get him back.

Pierre LeBrun reported through The Athletic on Sunday that Julien Brisebois never came close to the term or average annual value Toronto ended up paying.

That's the part that stings for Toronto. Tampa watched this guy all year and let him go without trying to even Toronto's offer.

Raddysh finished the regular season with 22 goals, 48 assists, a plus-21 rating, 10 power-play goals, and 16 power-play assists. All of that at a cap hit of $975,000.

That production line belongs in a conversation with the best-value contracts in recent NHL memory, not buried in a footnote.

He chipped in another 2 points in 7 playoff games, including a power-play goal.

Brisebois blinks, and Toronto are in trouble

Tampa finished 50-26-6 this season, second in the Atlantic with a plus-59 goal differential. They weren't operating from a position of weakness.

So Brisebois had no structural reason to walk away from a 30-year-old defenseman coming off the best season of his career.

A decision like that is a bit like buying a stock, watching it go up 40 percent, then refusing to add more because the price moved. By the time you change your mind, someone else already bought it.

Toronto, for its part, went 32-36-14 and allowed 299 goals. They needed infrastructure on the blue line, but this contract is gonna age very bad.

Adding a 30 year-old defenseman with one good season in the NHL at $8,5M per is not what we call a good negociation.

What the Raddysh deal actually signals is a front office that's willing to overpay. John Chayka just made his first mistake and it could be a tough one.