Player Discussion Aatu Raty

[Diversification]

I've been pumping his tires since before we traded for him and was shitting my pants that he was gonna get traded for a rental. A lot of people ignored the fact that he at one point was considered a possible 1st overall. No matter how that played out it doesn't change the fact that his talent drew that much praise.

I remember a scout who posts on HF did a deep dive on him and showed that even when his stock plummeted it was a complicated scenario, some self inflicted, some not. Anyways he talked about how when you peeled back his D-1 season despite little production the underlying numbers painted a much rosier picture and he had what he called historically bad luck, to go along with a bad fit on the team he was on.
Things got a lot better the following year but he came over and had a hard time adjusting to the AHL, which the article pointed out that he tends to take awhile to adjust to knew situations.

We all saw his last half of the season in Abby where he had clearly adjusted and played very well but it was clear from rookie camp on that he had clearly taken another big step, especially his skating.

Man imagine he ends up 2c quality as a 3c and all of a sudden Hronek and Raty and a 4th (acquired for Beauvilier) for Horvat and a 2nd is looking like a franchise altering deal.

He's following the Manny Malhotra career arc. I hope he can continue to build on this. Quality 3Cs are hard to come by.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Pretty surprised to see how strong he is at faceoffs for a 21 year old. 14 out of 18 wins are elite numbers for the stronger veteran two way centers. His defensive play means he can easily slot into a bottom six center job.
Going to be tough this year though with the depth in the forward group unless there are injuries.

 

[tantalum]

Pretty surprised to see how strong he is at faceoffs for a 21 year old. 14 out of 18 wins are elite numbers for the stronger veteran two way centers. His defensive play means he can easily slot into a bottom six center job.
Going to be tough this year though with the depth in the forward group unless there are injuries.

He had a strong night in the circle for sure but it is pre-season. Still it is clear from Tocchet's post-game that he very much noticed Raty in a good way and his faceoffs was one of those things. Also really loves how hard he is working in every drill, practice, scrimmage and game. Raty has come to camp to make the team. He's one of those guys who if he doesn't make it out of camp he will be brought up at some point and likely never see the AHL again. The question is can he continue to improve to be more than a 4th line center or bottom 6 winger. Can he be a strong third line center?

 

[helloconga]

Saw this kid play a few games live during abby road games. He looks completely different this year.

I think he’s realizing he needed to take his game to the next level and it’s really showing. Hope he gets a shot, would be another excellent trade if he works out!