Rick Tocchet seemed like he couldn’t wait to talk about Aatu Räty following the Vancouver Canucks’ 3-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night.
The head coach was asked six questions post game before somebody asked him about Räty, who was strong in the Canucks’ first preseason game. When he was finally asked, he had a look of “yeah, I knew this one was coming,” and rightfully so.
Raty stood out for a number of reasons, but it’s hard to ignore his work in the faceoff circle, where the young Fin finished the night 14-for-18 on draws.
“There were a couple of sequences, we had a couple of penalties, and I put him out on the right side,” said Tocchet. “I thought we were getting killed on the right side, but he went there, and it was three in a row. Boom, boom, boom. I mean, that’s huge. 25 times three, that’s 75 seconds of PK time.
“I think he plays a heavy game, he’s not afraid to get in there, I think he likes the heavy game. He just keeps working on his skating and he just keeps playing faster… I don’t think there’s been a day that he hasn’t worked his ass off, like he always got his motor running. He’s trying to make the team, and that’s what I’m looking for. He’s just trying to elevate himself. He’s going to make rookie mistakes but we can live with that if he keeps working.”
Räty picked up an assist on Nils Höglander’s power play marker, and looked comfortable in every situation he was put into tonight.
Räty impressed at training camp in Penticton, but it ultimately won’t matter much if that strong play doesn’t translate into the preseason games he gets into. And so far, so good.
Räty said Tuesday morning that he feels like he’s NHL ready, and he won’t have to wait long before he gets his next shot to earn his keep, as Tocchet said that the 21-year-old would be among a group of four or five players tonight who would get to play in Abbotsford tomorrow when the Canucks take on the Flames.
“I think it’s important that these guys play in that atmosphere of a back to back,” said Tocchet. “You might be a little tired, and that’s when you’ve got to see guys. You’ve got to play when you’re tired and you’ve got to play smart. It’s a mental thing too, they might not even be tired, but it’s important we get those guys in back to back.”
