Player Discussion Aatu Raty

[mossey3535]

Yeah he doesn't deserve this call up but maybe the skills coaches will get more time with him and work on his skating. Also, we have no centers.

In his first game on TV he looked average but in person up close it was shocking. I've never seen someone labour just skating around the faceoff dot waiting for the linesman to start the draw. He has some moments where it looks like his stride is efficient and others where his feet are moving but he's not going anywhere.

Like he has zero glide. He needs a new profile 100%, maybe different steel. Something. Anything. LOL.

 

[Izzy Goodenough]

Perhaps they have just called him up so that Raty can welcome this guy in Finnish when he arrives before the TDL?

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[Peter Griffin]

Didn’t he just turn 20 a couple months ago? I would think he’s at least another full AHL season away from making any sort of meaningful contributions at the NHL level. This isn’t an Anton Lundell here.

 

[racerjoe]

How does his skating compare to someone like a Gaunce?

 

[MS]

How does his skating compare to someone like a Gaunce?

Probably pretty comparable to Gaunce at age 20, worse than Gaunce at age 23 or 24.

In the 18-19 season Gaunce had become legitimately fast at the AHL level which shows the huge difference in calibre of play between the NHL and AHL.

Also I’ve always said that Gaunce’s skating criticisms were overblown. It wasn’t good, but it was better than Markus Granlund’s skating but nobody complained about that because small bad skaters don’t look as clumsy as big bad skaters.

 

[RobertKron]

Probably pretty comparable to Gaunce at age 20, worse than Gaunce at age 23 or 24.

In the 18-19 season Gaunce had become legitimately fast at the AHL level which shows the huge difference in calibre of play between the NHL and AHL.

Also I’ve always said that Gaunce’s skating criticisms were overblown. It wasn’t good, but it was better than Markus Granlund’s skating but nobody complained about that because small bad skaters don’t look as clumsy as big bad skaters.

The other thing with Gaunce was that they were fixated on the idea of him being a run around "energy" winger, which is the play style that would make his poor skating look the absolute worst possible.

That was one of the weird themes in the Benning era where they just decided a player was X type of player for seemingly no reason at all, and then just kept cramming the round peg in the square hole year after year.

 

[Diamonddog01]

Yeah he doesn't deserve this call up but maybe the skills coaches will get more time with him and work on his skating. Also, we have no centers.

In his first game on TV he looked average but in person up close it was shocking. I've never seen someone labour just skating around the faceoff dot waiting for the linesman to start the draw. He has some moments where it looks like his stride is efficient and others where his feet are moving but he's not going anywhere.

Like he has zero glide. He needs a new profile 100%, maybe different steel. Something. Anything. LOL.

I honestly don't see him actually becoming an NHL regular based on his skating. Obviously would love to be proven wrong but when I saw him live it was shocking how bad it is. But even if he doesn't make it the draft pick and Beauvillier (as well as avoiding the Horvat retirement contract) will still make the trade a solid win.

 

[mossey3535]

I honestly don't see him actually becoming an NHL regular based on his skating. Obviously would love to be proven wrong but when I saw him live it was shocking how bad it is. But even if he doesn't make it the draft pick and Beauvillier (as well as avoiding the Horvat retirement contract) will still make the trade a solid win.

It's so comically bad that maybe there's a lot of low hanging fruit for a skating coach to work on.

 

[RebuildinVan]

That skating tho..... he does seem to have defensive awareness so maybe he can think the game?

 

[Gstank]

He's most likely up here because Tochett doesnt like any of our bottom 6 Cs and as the organization can work on a summer/offseason plan for him. Probably with a video package of things he could do better or a breakdown fo the mechanics of his skating.

You dont need to be fast to be an NHL C. Its probably the position that speed matters the least. But you need to be shifty, have explosive accelerlation to be able to close down gaps quickly, be aware of your surroundings, and be able to read the play 2/3 steps ahead of when it happens. Agility and Accerlation will come with physical maturation

 

[F A N]

The other thing with Gaunce was that they were fixated on the idea of him being a run around "energy" winger, which is the play style that would make his poor skating look the absolute worst possible.

That was one of the weird themes in the Benning era where they just decided a player was X type of player for seemingly no reason at all, and then just kept cramming the round peg in the square hole year after year.

I think a lot of that was Green.

I think Gaunce's issue was/is that he has the classic heavy boots. He wasn't a slow skater once he got going. Gaunce was also more of a passive player and certainly far from having a high motor. IIRC, the switch to the wing and have him run around around as an "energy" winger was an attempt to keep his feet activated and moving. Gaunce had good size and shot and a lot of the goals he scored at the AHL level was similar to the goals Horvat has scored the past two seasons. Basically he needed to be play like Horvat (the current version) offensively to succeed in the NHL and he wasn't able to play like that at the NHL level.

In terms of cramming a round peg in the square hole that square hole is the NHL right and somehow the peg needs to fit through it? At the end of the day you're trying to develop players into NHL players. That skilled sniper who doesn't offer anything else needs to develop other parts of his game. That heavy-booted C with size is a prime candidate to be shifted to the wing to negate the effects of his heavy boots.

 

[RobertKron]

I think a lot of that was Green.

I think Gaunce's issue was/is that he has the classic heavy boots. He wasn't a slow skater once he got going. Gaunce was also more of a passive player and certainly far from having a high motor. IIRC, the switch to the wing and have him run around around as an "energy" winger was an attempt to keep his feet activated and moving. Gaunce had good size and shot and a lot of the goals he scored at the AHL level was similar to the goals Horvat has scored the past two seasons. Basically he needed to be play like Horvat (the current version) offensively to succeed in the NHL and he wasn't able to play like that at the NHL level.

In terms of cramming a round peg in the square hole that square hole is the NHL right and somehow the peg needs to fit through it? At the end of the day you're trying to develop players into NHL players. That skilled sniper who doesn't offer anything else needs to develop other parts of his game. That heavy-booted C with size is a prime candidate to be shifted to the wing to negate the effects of his heavy boots.

But he was a natural centre!

 

[canuckfan75]

Looks like Brendan Gaunce to me - lol

 

[PuckMunchkin]

It's so comically bad that maybe there's a lot of low hanging fruit for a skating coach to work on.

One would think.

He looks so awkward...

 

[geebster]

I watched so little of that game. How was he? Seems like people are keying into his skating mostly? But was he a liability.

 

[Nona Di Giuseppe]

Didn’t he just turn 20 a couple months ago? I would think he’s at least another full AHL season away from making any sort of meaningful contributions at the NHL level. This isn’t an Anton Lundell here.

if his skating doesn't improve his age doesn't matter. (If he needed to round out his defensive game, or improve his reaction time, or systems, I'd say some marinating in the A would be beneficial, but with skating, I think it's either going to be fixed, or not. I imagine we'll know by training camp next year.)

It's so comically bad that maybe there's a lot of low hanging fruit for a skating coach to work on.

hopefully this is the case. i'm not holding my breath as he has to have been aware this has been holding him back since his draft -1 year. Where's Kathy McLlwain at ?

 

[Jabba The Hutton]

I actually thought Raty played well last night - not much pressure on him, but he seemed positionally correct in a lot of areas and broke up some good passes.

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

Didn’t notice him at all last game.

I also didn’t watch so there’s that.

 

[MS]

I watched so little of that game. How was he? Seems like people are keying into his skating mostly? But was he a liability.

I thought the 3rd line played with more defensive structure than it had been with Dries there, but a) that's a low bar and b) St. Louis wasn't very good last night so maybe it was just that.

He didn't really make any mistakes but didn't do much positive either. If it wasn't the debut for a guy just involved in a major trade, you probably wouldn't even have noticed him.

 

[Diversification]

I thought the 3rd line played with more defensive structure than it had been with Dries there, but a) that's a low bar and b) St. Louis wasn't very good last night so maybe it was just that.

He didn't really make any mistakes but didn't do much positive either. If it wasn't the debut for a guy just involved in a major trade, you probably wouldn't even have noticed him.

There was one nice cross seam pass in the 3rd where he showed his creativity. To Pod IIRC.

As for his skating, there’s so much wasted energy in his movements. What gives me pause is that surely he’s had professional guidance so why can’t he channel that energy into productive strides?

 

[VanJack]

When it comes to skating, some players just are what they are. But watching Raty out there gives you some hope that he can eventually adjust his pace to the lightning quick NHL play.

Hopefully he goes back down at the end of the season and gets big minutes in AHL playoff games. Would be nice if the Abby Canucks could go on a long Calder Cup run, but getting out of the Pacific will be tough.

 

[orcatown]

While Raty has to pick up a step or two to excel at the NHL level, his skating looks fairly smooth. Stays in the middle of the ice constantly pivoting in the direction of the play. More glides about rather than striding hard to get on the puck. Picks up speed when he sees an offensive chance but does not get any immediate separation at the present.

Believe he will have to play a thinking man's game to play at this level and be a good distributor of the puck.

On Gaunce. Lacked any agility and couldn't adjust well enough to pull off a quick pivot. Once that freight train got going in one direction, it wasn't reversing direction any time soon. Could say the same about his brother, Cameron. Both leveled out as decent AHL players. Got some game time in the NHL with the Canucks because team had so few legitimate 3rd and 4th players. Like when we had the likes of Grenier, LaBate, Camarossa, Chaput, Megna and such.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

Raty's skating to me looked a little choppy..although, he's got good size, and isnt afraid to go into the dirty areas..and puck skills are good.

Speaking of skating..I think that average (or slightly below) skaters can make up for it by having a really good hockey IQ..Tyler Toffoli,Nick Bonino come to mind...If you're a below average skater, with an average hockey IQ, its a tough go..Adam Gaudette comes to mind....My .02 cents.

 

[sting101]

Has a wide stance and his inside to outside range is minimized in his first few steps because of it. Once he's moving it's really about generating more power and lengthening his stride to the heel kick.

It's very trainable IMO if he can add some muscle/explosive power and not get into the habit of widening out and going flat footed limiting his ability to retain speed or generate a change of pace.

The length of stride should be easy to improve somewhat. The Sedins were awful at that too when they first showed up. After all the hill training it was actually pretty decent.

Gaunce stylistically is a bad comp. He lacked quick feet and agility which Raty is decent with. The Bonino comp actually is pretty good. Gotta make it a huge priority in the off seasons. I think it should be fine he wont be a burner obviously but as long as he can stay in the play he can be effective.

 

[Johnny Canucker]

Well …. Raty is pretty baddy