Canucks: No adieu Aatu Raty, feisty Finn should be roster regular

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Never have so many choice words by Aatu Raty meant so much.

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“Being in the lineup is something I never take for granted,” the Vancouver Canucks’ depth centre told Postmedia during his quest to be an NHL mainstay. “You always want to be the player who is playing, if you have the lead, or trying to get a goal at the end.”

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That sounded great, but roster reality is more than prose and perspiration.

Raty is coming off a solid season with 24 goals split between Abbotsford (17) and Vancouver (7), but the downside was AHL playoff injuries that limited him to six games with the Calder Cup champions. However, 40 points in 43 games didn’t go unnoticed.

“Aatu had a strong year in Abbotsford and showed some promise when called up,” said Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin. “It was another good step in his development as he continues to learn and grow as a pro. We expect him to compete for a job in Vancouver.”

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Depending on how the Canucks’ solve their riddle in the middle to support Elias Pettersson and Filip Chytil — especially with the Pius Suter departure — a centre addition may mean Teddy Blueger drops to the fourth line and Raty becomes the 13th forward. But if Blueger is packaged in trade for a pivot, Raty should get that spot.

Then again, if it’s a free-agent acquisition in versatile centre/winger Jack Roslovic, 28, that would be another revolving roster story. And Raty knows about the career carousel.

“Three years ago, I played 15 NHL games (12 with the New York Islanders and three with Canucks) and thought I belonged,” he recalled. “My skating is better and I’ll keeping working at it and the stick battles.”

Raty showed improvement last fall. He won 14 of 18 faceoffs against the Seattle Kraken in a Sept. 24 preseason test, and three nights later in Calgary, looked like a wily veteran by finishing off a third-period scoring chance with a deft toe drag in the slot and picking the top corner.

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What really works for the 22-year-old Raty is size, feistiness, face-off efficiency, not being waiver-exempt next season, and getting a one-way, two-year, $1.55-million US contract extension last month. More importantly, there’s potential for a waiver claim, if the Canucks try to get him through for an AHL assignment to Abbotsford.

Same goes for forwards Linus Karlsson and Arshdeep Bains, but that’s a story for another day.

With Raty, what you see in the 6-foot-2, 190-pound pivot is what you get, and most of it is good. He’s not a burner, and keeps work on explosiveness and pace, but is most deadly on the draw. His 57.4 per cent face-off success in 33 NHL games last season ranked second to J.T. Miller, who went 58.6 per cent in 40 outings before being dealt to the New York Rangers.

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Raty is a natural for defensive-zone faceoffs, especially on the penalty kill, and has teased of more offence. He was effective in an alignment with Dakota Joshua and Kiefer Sherwood in the quest for a wild-card playoff spot. Raty was quicker and more engaged, and a spurt of five goals in eight games was notable. So is dedication.

Raty is often last off the practice ice to keeping honing his skills, which drew plaudits from former Canucks bench boss Rick Tocchet. He was enamoured last fall by Raty’s willingness to learn.

“When we first got him, his skating was just okay,” admitted Tocchet. “The development guys and the Abbotsford guys did a helluva job with him, because to me he’s a different player. I see another level. He looks fast out there. And every drill he does he goes 100 per cent.

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“Even in the morning skate I told him he had to slow down a bit because you want to save it for tonight. I like that attitude from a young kid. The biggest thing with young guys is to remember it’s the NHL. They get the puck and right away they go into awareness mode. They start to look around and don’t move their feet.”

Scoring chances often come from puck possession faceoffs, which Raty has taken to another level of creativeness. He worked with Abbotsford head coach Manny Malhotra for success in the dot and adds his own twist.

“I have a technique not a lot of guys have, but Manny has good tips on playing the opponent and the refs,” said Raty. “He’s big on having your own territory on the dot and owing it. They’re good to implement, even though I might not use them right away.

“Your best go-to technique may not work against a certain centre, and I can use something I got from Manny to mess up the guy’s timing.”

When the left-shot Raty takes weak-side draws, he flips his stick to increase the percentage of right-side success. He turns the right hand over on his left-handed stick to win draws to the backhand.

It has worked.

bkuzma@postmedia.com

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