The pre-season serves multiple purposes: it gives prospects a taste of the professional environment, allows NHL veterans to shake off summer rust, and, most crucially, provides players on the bubble with a shot at winning a roster spot.

These battles often end in disappointment, with summer acquisitions having already predetermined the opening lineup. However, occasionally, a player rises above expectations and forces the coaches to reconsider their entire roster scheme. This year, Aatu Räty has pushed hard to be that player for the Vancouver Canucks.

Having been featured in three of the Canucks’ four pre-season games so far, Räty has made a compelling case for himself nearly every time he’s set foot on the ice. Whether by scoring goals, making his presence felt by finishing checks, killing penalties, or taking the spotlight as the team’s face-off ace, he’s emerged as one of the top performers within the entire pipeline.

It’s not just the fans or media who have come away impressed, either. Head coach Rick Tocchet has also noticed, praising his effort after Tuesday night’s pre-season match: “He’s trying to make the team. That’s what I’m looking for. He’s trying to elevate himself. He’s gonna make rookie mistakes, but we can live with that if he keeps working.”

On Saturday night, he doubled down on his review:” He’s a stiff, sticky player. You know, he gets in there, he comes up with loose bucks, and he can make some good plays.”

With roster spots up for grabs, Tocchet has clarified that this week is about seeing who wants it the most: “There are spots open. This week, you’re looking for guys to really show us they want a job, or they want that spot.”

And while names such as Max Sasson and Arshdeep Bains have had their moments, it’s the young Finn who is providing the best case.

At just 21 years old, Räty has worked hard to overcome the deficiencies that have held him back in the past. Often criticized for his skating, which was seen as a significant barrier to his NHL readiness, Räty has made substantial strides in that area after a summer of intense focus, with better explosiveness, speed, and technique.

In an interview with Iain MacIntyre, Räty discussed his improved skating and what clicked for him this summer. “There’s a lot of things,” he explained. “A lot of body lean. My crossovers were horrible. I switched something in my blades. The specs are different in Finland, but [my blades] are sharper for the turns. In Europe, they have a lot of glide in their blades [for bigger ice surfaces]. So I switched that a little bit, and it gave me more confidence to have the body lean required for those crossovers.”

With his skating now on par, although admittedly still needing further work, Räty has been able to focus on showcasing the area that has always been at the top of his skill set: his face-off ability.

Räty has always been proficient in the face-off circle. Even during his stints on the wing in Abbotsford last season, he was frequently tasked with taking draws, finishing the 2023-24 season with a 54% win rate across 639 attempts. However, it’s not just that Räty is good at winning draws; he’s adept at winning them on both his strong and weak sides. By flipping his stick, Räty can effectively take face-offs as a righty, a rare skill that could be a game-changer for the Canucks.

Räty described his approach to face-offs: “It’s just the technique that I do. You know, give the opposing center some different looks. I think that’s good to kind of keep him off their game and then kind of switch up the rhythm.”

Whatever he’s doing, it seems to be working.

According to Instat Hockey, Räty’s effectiveness had actually improved on his off-hand. He dominated face-offs from the right side of the ice, showing better numbers in all four quadrants.

Could this ability, combined with his offensive skill and two-way play, give him an edge on a Canucks roster that currently lacks a right-shot center?

Today’s expected members of the season’s centre corps are J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson, Pius Suter, Teddy Blueger and Nils Aman, all of whom are left-shot options. Oh, and none carry an inability to flip their stick and use it as a right-shot option.

Compared to the three centres he could realistically push to wing — Pius Suter, Nils Aman, and Teddy Blueger — Räty’s performance in the dot over the pre-season stands out. Blueger has not taken part in the pre-season due to injury, but Suter and Aman have each posted lacklustre numbers down the middle.

Suter, expected to play third-line minutes come the regular season, has struggled in the face-off circle, winning just 10 of 34 draws in two pre-season games. In fact, with a career average of 47.2%, he has yet to finish a season above 50%. Aman has won just 8 of 24 and carries a career average of 40% across two years of NHL action. In contrast, Räty has won 25 of 44 draws (excluding stats from Wednesday’s game) through two accounted-for pre-season games (Wednesday’s stats were not taken).

While the sample size may be limited, also Räty posted a 54.2% rating with a total of 45 face-off wins across 15 NHL games in 2022-23, the year that the Canucks acquired him. While it’s a guessing game whether those numbers would translate on a broader scale, his numbers are hard to ignore right now.

In addition to his face-off skills, Räty brings penalty-killing experience, having been a regular on the kill in Abbotsford last season and for most of his career. Tocchet praised Räty’s penalty-killing ability during a recent pre-season game: “There were a couple sequences on the penalty kill… I put him on the right side — we were getting killed on the right side — but he went out there with three [zone clears] in a row: boom boom boom.” Tocchet said enthusiastically. “That’s huge. I mean, that’s 25 times three — 75 seconds of PK time.”

In the three games in which Räty has dressed, the Canucks have posted a perfect 10/10 on their penalty kill. While that number isn’t directly correlated to him, there’s a solid argument that he had something to do with it. The Canucks have consistently looked for further options to play effective minutes with a man down, and once again, having another “right shot” option factors heavily when it comes to matchups.

With Dakota Joshua expected to miss some time beyond October 9th, Räty’s all-around game and unique skill set could make him a valuable asset to the Canucks’ lineup come opening night. If he continues to impress, Räty might just force his way into a full-time NHL role sooner than expected.