Anthony Beauvillier and Aatu Raty speak about joining the Vancouver Canucks organization after Bo Horvat trade

It was an intense 24 hours for the pair of new Canucks, as both Aatu Raty and Anthony Beauvillier were surprised to hear that they were traded to Vancouver on Monday afternoon.

After having a bit of time to reply to texts and sleep on the news, the duo met with the media on Tuesday to speak about the exciting new opportunity that is presented to them with the Canucks’ organization.

“[It was] definitely a crazy couple of hours here,” said Beauvillier. “But I was definitely excited to hear that I was part of Vancouver. Definitely [have] some mixed emotions here and it’s tough to leave the Islanders but at the same time, I’m very, very excited to join this team.”

Through 49 games this season, Beauvillier has averaged 15:47 of ice time and scored nine goals while adding 11 assists through 49 games. He has played on the left wing this year and an interesting stat is that Beauvillier has not even attempted one faceoff. He took over 300 faceoffs in his rookie season with the Islanders back in 2016-17.

The 25-year-old is looking forward to the opportunity in Vancouver and is excited to have a chance to grow his game in a new environment.

“As a player, you always want to find another level and I feel like I can do that in Vancouver and that’s very exciting for me,” said Beauvillier. “I’m very excited to join this team and excited to play hockey and have fun in Vancouver. Yeah, it’s an exciting time for me at this point in my career for sure.”

Beauvillier talked about the two playoff runs that he had with the Islanders being some of his favourite memories. He spoke about game six against the Lightning being one game that stuck out. He also spoke about what he needs to do to feel like he’s at his best as an NHLer.

“I feel like I’m at my best when I play with instincts and am someone that works and tries to work hard every day and has a good work ethic,” said Beauvillier. “I find that I’m at my best when I move my feet and hound the puck and just play on instinct. I feel like that’s how I’ve had success my whole life, especially in the NHL.”

Culture setting has been a hot topic of late with the Canucks, and Beauvillier commented on being a guy who can help set the culture from his work ethic.

“I feel like I have a good work ethic,” said Beauvillier. “I’m happy to be at the rink every day and enjoy myself every day as well. So yeah, I can definitely be that. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this group as well. So, I just want to be myself and want to help the best I can, just being positive and working hard every day is easy to do. So, I definitely want to do that if that helps the team as well. It’s good for me and it’s good for the team.”

Finally, Beauvillier was asked about the challenges of playing in a Canadian market as he has only ever been with the Islanders throughout his seven-year NHL career. He spoke about the excitement level that he has to be in a passionate hockey market where the Canucks are the big show in town.

“It’s definitely a huge opportunity for me and it’s definitely exciting when you hear those things [about] the city and the passion on behalf of their team,” said Beauvillier. “It’s always hard as a visiting team to play in Vancouver, fans are always there. It’s loud in there and it definitely makes a difference during the game, but I’m super excited to join the Canucks and discover the city of Vancouver. Honestly, I’ve heard so many good things about the organization and the city as well. I couldn’t be happier.”

Now for the 20-year-old centre, Aatu Raty.

He was excited to get back to Rogers Arena one day as Raty scored in his one and only NHL game played at Rogers Arena. Before that day comes, however, he will report to the Abbotsford Canucks and play alongside other youngsters such as Danila Klimovich, Nils Höglander, and Vasily Podkolzin.

“Those are really good, talented players over there,” said Raty when asked about playing and growing with Höglander and Podkolzin. “I remember playing against those guys in the national team. Those are really talented guys and I’m really happy to go there [to Abbotsford].”

Raty said that he found out about the trade when he was at a hotel spa in downtown New York. He said that he didn’t have his phone on him at the spa but his girlfriend went to check her phone and it was blowing up with people asking her what she thought about Vancouver. It was the first time that Raty was able to check out downtown New York. He said he was surprised but excited about the new opportunity.

Raty was asked about what he needs to improve on to be a successful NHLer.

“I always want to work on my all-around game. I think it’s good but it definitely has to do better in order to be an NHL player,” said Raty. “I think the biggest thing is my skating. I think it’s improved this year, but I still really wanted to get better. I think it’s such a fast league and that’s what I want to work on.”

Finally, Raty was asked about the jump in points from his draft year to his draft plus one year in the Finnish top league. He went from a player who put up six points in 35 games to have 40 points in 41 games with a new team (Jukurit).

“Yeah, it was a lot to do with opportunity,” said Raty. “I feel like it was kind of with the confidence, I feel like going to a new team, [going from] hardly playing to playing [a lot]. [I was] jumping from 10 minutes a game to almost 20 minutes a game so it’s a huge difference but I think during the season I feel like I got better at my penalty-killing, I got better on the power play. [I was] just getting more skill being in those types of chances. I think that was the biggest thing. I felt like I was just working harder there and being a guy that got stronger and faster every day.”

Beauvillier will join the Canucks when they return from their All-Star break but Raty is set to head down to San Jose and join the Abbotsford Canucks as they are on the road to face the Barracuda. We’re not sure if Raty will be in the lineup with Abbotsford as quickly as this Friday but hope that he is and really hope that he is put into the centre of the ice between Vasily Podkolzin and Nils Höglander. That would be an extremely exciting young line in the AHL and you’ve got to give some props to Canucks management for their work of restocking the farm with young talent this season.

We will continue to follow the new guys as well as begin to follow the Islanders in the standings as the Canucks also acquired their first-round pick in the Bo Horvat trade.

A big step was made toward the future with this deal and we are excited to see what comes of Raty and Beauvillier.