Canucks: How Aatu Raty became reliable ‘Rats’ and a face-off wizard

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They call him “Rats”.

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For feisty Finnish centre Aatu Raty, the nickname plays perfectly to his fourth-line presence with the Vancouver Canucks. He’s an irritant for the opposition, a hard-hitting forechecker, master of face-offs, and chips in with the occasional goal.

It nowhere mirrors the stature of infamous Ken “The Rat” Linseman, who piled up penalty minutes and points for the Philadelphia Flyers, Edmonton Oilers and Boston Bruins in the 1980s and 1990s. However, the improving Raty is carving out a competitive niche to be a roster staple.

All that was at play on Sunday. Amid everything that went wrong in a 5-3 loss to the Nashville Predators, there was a silver lining. Raty, along with linemates Danton Heinen and Nils Hoglander, embraced challenges and received extra ice time in crucial situations.

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And for Raty, 22, who scored his first goal as a Canuck with a deft slot deflection, it was the exclamation point on a night where he also won 77 per cent of his draws (10-for-13) in 11:13 of ice time. Raty also had six hits and won 88 per cent of face-offs Saturday (7-for-8) during a 4-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.

“It’s great being in the line-up and something I never take for granted,” stressed Raty, who has always the last player off the practice ice. “I’ve got to work for every game. Heinen and Hogs are two extremely hard-working players, and that’s the thing with our line to forecheck and get greasy goals.

“My first goal here means a lot. Good shot from Branny (Erik Brannstrom) and I was able to tip it.”

That made the highlight reels, but the tough stuff that Raty does really matters. Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet acknowledged it Sunday by deploying Raty in the final few minutes of a tight game.

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“You always want to be the player who is playing if you have the lead, or trying to get a goal at the end,” said Raty, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound Oulu, Finland native and second-round New York Islanders draft pick in 2021.

Tocchet is enamoured by Raty’s willingness to keep working on this foot speed and systems play.

“The biggest thing with young guys is to remember it’s the NHL,” stressed Tocchet. “They get the puck and right away they go into awareness mode. They start to look around and don’t move their feet.

“You can get away with that in junior and the AHL a little bit. But up here, I’m big on move your feet and then look for awareness. It’s a better way to play, and you’re going to get more (scoring) chances.”

For Raty, this season includes his waiver-exempt status. It ensures he would be schooled by Abbotsford head coach Manny Malhotra, who excelled as a face-off specialist with the Canucks, to earn a recall to “The Show”.

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It can be a cup or two of NHL coffee or a longer stay based on merit. That’s up to Raty. He arrived here as part of the Bo Horvat trade, but the eventual return of Brock Boeser from injury means opening a roster spot.

And Raty can also be part of the accruing salary-cap space dance with the re-assign-recall dance.

“It’s not my place to worry about it. I just do what I’m told to do,” reasoned Raty. “It’s better that way. Both teams, Abbotsford and here, are great places for me to grow. Any option on any day is a good one.”

Raty is a restricted free agent after this season and his ascension makes it a no-brainer move for an extension. He had seven points (3-4) in eight AHL games before getting the recall, and the work he did in Abbotsford is playing out in Vancouver.

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“It was only eight games. But at this age, you can still make some big jumps every month,” reasoned Raty. “When I hear that I’m getting better at something — knowing the systems better or being in better shape — I love that.

“I weigh seven pounds more than at the start of training camp, so building strength is something you want to do. I’m still working on my skating and getting better and working to not get back to bad habits if you’re tired.

“Once you keep re-enforcing techniques, it strengthens your (competitive) backbone. And with face-offs, Manny has given me lots of tips with timing.

“I have a technique not a lot of guys have. But Manny has good tips on playing the opponent and the refs. 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.

“But your 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’s working.

bkuzma@postmedia.com

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