Building Blue: Aatu Räty is Seeing His Hard Work Pay Off in Recent Call-Up to NHL

For Vancouver Canucks forward Aatu Räty, this season has been about making significant improvements as a pro while continuing to build on the structure that he set up in the offseason.

Räty has scored three goals since being called up from the AHL four games ago. The 22-year-old centre has spent most of the season with the Abbotsford Canucks and is leading them with 39 points in 41 AHL games.

Now, Räty plays essential minutes in the NHL and is earning the trust of his head coach and NHL teammates.

“I am loving the way our line is playing,” said Räty. “I just want to be solid and clean in our own end. But obviously, you always take the goals when you can get them.”

Dakota Joshua and Kiefer Sherwood are playing on the wing with Räty, and the trio builds chemistry and confidence off their love of having a strong forecheck. We all know that Sherwood and Joshua love to get in on the forecheck and cause chaos, and it’s a similar feeling for Räty.

“That was a positive line for us,” head coach Rick Tocchet said of the trio. “Rats is a young kid, and in the couple of early games, he made some mistakes, but I’m not seeing those mistakes as much now. I think having those two wingers has really helped him. I’ve been playing that line and taking draws in our own end, some minutes where we need them to go against a top line. That’s a big thing for me if we can get that line to play against top lines.”

Though he plays centre and is typically the third attacking forward on a forecheck, having Sherwood and Joshua as the first two men in allows Räty to read the play. When he can see a breakout develop, Räty can rely on his high hockey IQ to cut off passing lanes in the neutral zone or disrupt a breakout at the blue line with a forced turnover.

Playing in straight lines and sticking to the system is helping Räty feel comfortable on his line, and he likes how the trio is creating good bounces for themselves with their effort on the ice.

Räty developed confidence in his game with the success he had in Abbotsford. He was trusted to be a top-line centre in the AHL and played a ton of minutes at five-on-five while being trusted in the final minutes of close games and being asked to contribute to both special teams’ units.

“Wherever I am, I’m trying to get better every day,” said Räty about developing his game in Abbotsford. “And over there with the schedule, you are playing more on the weekend, so there’s a little more time to train and lift weights. You sometimes have some extra time in the afternoon to go on the ice and work on my skating, which I feel like I have improved on, but still, that’s the biggest thing that I want to keep getting better at.”

Three goals in his last four games are one of the stats that pop off the page, but another stat of note is Räty’s faceoff prowess. The Finnish centre has won 32 of 52 faceoffs (61.5%) since his recent call-up to the NHL and believes it comes from the hard work he has been putting in at practice at the AHL and NHL levels.

“I’m just working on it every day, taking 30-40 draws after every practice and then trying to pick everyone’s brains,” said Räty. “We got a lot of good faceoff guys here, too. If you have a coach who’s going to draw us, I will try to ask questions and improve. I have a little bit of a weird technique. So obviously, certain things work on different people. I don’t know if anybody else is using the technique that I’m using. So, it’s good that you won’t get a mirror image.”

Räty has won 135 of 234 faceoffs (57.7%) in the NHL this season and will continue to work on his craft and gain trust from his head coach to be a player he can trust in critical draws.

The young centre is gaining confidence in the later stages of the season, and he will be eligible to return to Abbotsford for their playoff run, which hopefully will last late into the spring.