At times, Aatu Raty has been a reliable center for the Vancouver Canucks.
But on Wednesday, they chose to risk parting ways with him.
The Canucks placed Raty on waivers, which creates a 24-hour limbo period.
Raty went on waivers at 11 a.m. local time in Vancouver on Wednesday. The rest of the NHL has 24 hours to put a claim in on him.
The Canucks won’t know until 11 a.m. on Thursday local time whether or not Raty remains a part of their organization.
If he does, they surely plan to assign him to their AHL roster.
But given Raty is just 23, it’s not a given he passes through unscathed.
Why Did Canucks Waive Aatu Raty?
The Canucks had already made it somewhat clear that they weren’t sure how Raty fit into their plans for this season.
While they have played eight games, Raty has appeared in just four of them. That’s a rock-solid sign that he’s on the fringes of their strategy.
He has only played 10 minutes and 10 seconds of average ice time when dressed for games, about as low as a guy can go with how teams generally rotate their lines.
Raty has just one goal this season, no assists and is a minus-2.
The Canucks aren’t necessarily in the business of giving away young talent at this point. They’re clearly rebuilding.
By the same token, they haven’t seen enough out of Raty since he’s been in Vancouver not to at least take this chance. They’ll allocate his playing time elsewhere to see if there’s any potential elsewhere in the organization.
They’d surely like to keep Raty, but it’s far from a given, and they decided that risk was worth it.
Will Another Team Claim Aatu Raty?
There are multiple reasons to think Raty might be claimed.
The first is his pedigree. He’s a former second-round pick who is just 23. That could definitely intrigue some teams.
The second is his faceoff ability. He’s a career 59.2% winner on faceoffs, which is a huge skill. A team could target the 6-foot-2 Raty as a bottom-six center who they put into the game in the defensive zone to win faceoffs and get the puck out of trouble.
Raty’s scoring has never really shown up at the NHL level, but in his limited minutes and with his teams already recognizing he can be useful in the defensive zone, he hasn’t gotten that many chances, either.
Raty originally was a member of the New York Islanders, so maybe they’d circle back to him. But there are a few obvious teams — like Calgary — that aren’t going to contend this season and might owe it to themselves to give Raty some more ice time and see what he might grow into.
Vancouver will have to wait until Thursday to see what happens next.
Why Canucks Cut Ties With Aatu Raty