Before Tuesday night’s Vancouver Canucks preseason game against the Calgary Flames, we learned that a player suiting up tonight will not be eligible to play for the rest of the preseason under the new CBA rules.

Under the new CBA rules, NHL veterans are permitted to play just two of the four preseason games. To be considered an NHL veteran, a player must have played in over 100 career NHL games.

With 114 NHL games under his belt, Aatu Räty is now considered an NHL veteran. And with tonight being his second preseason game, he will have reached the maximum number of preseason games allowed and is not permitted to play in the Canucks’ final two preseason games.

But why is this a big deal?

For starters, most of the Canucks’ main starters haven’t played in the preseason yet. So, what does that mean for where this coaching staff and management group see Räty in their start-of-season plans?

Coming into training camp, many observers pegged Räty as at least the Canucks’ fourth-line centre, playing a defensive, penalty-killing role. However, in training camp, we saw Räty play with Ty Mueller and Trey Fix-Wolansky – great players in their own right, but near guarantees to begin the season in the AHL.

Instead, Max Sasson, who spent most of last year playing on the wing, was back playing centre and with NHL wingers – Drew O’Connor and Brendan Gallagher – to boot. This trio played with plenty of pace and physicality in training camp, and looked like they had real staying power for when the season begins in a week’s time.

With Räty now missing the final two games of the preseason, both of which should see final dress rehearsals of what fans will likely see on opening night, where does that leave the 23-year-old Finnish centre? He wasn’t expected to be a factor on the power play, but what about the penalty kill? And because he was deployed with regular AHLers during training camp, Räty never had much chance to build chemistry with any other everyday NHL regular wingers.

With this confirmed as Räty’s final showing before the season starts on September 29, tonight is a massive game for him to show this coaching staff that he still deserves a spot on the opening-night roster.