Vancouver Canucks Head Coach Rick Tocchet Gives Compliment of a Life Time to Rookie Forward Aatu Raty

22-year-old Aatu Raty has taken big strides in his game so far during the 2024-25 campaign, and it began with a strong showing during training camp and in the pre-season.

While he's bounced up-and-down between Vancouver and the American Hockey League's Abbotsford Canucks throughout the early portion of the year, the Oulu, Finland native is leaving a pretty strong impression on head coach Rick Tocchet.

When speaking with reporters hours before puck drop on Thursday, Rick Tocchet praised Aatu Raty and his work ethic, according to Randip Janda of Sportsnet. Tocchet said he's not sure if he's ever seen a young player work as hard as Aatu Raty has.

The path to the National Hockey League has been a bit of a rollercoaster for Aatu Raty to say the least. A year prior to his draft, many scouts believed that Raty was a top-ten pick, possibly even higher.

However, a slow 2020-21 season Karpat in Finland's top division, Liiga and being left him off his country's roster for the World Juniors due to a positive test for COVID-19 ended up hurting him in the rankings and he fell all the way to 52nd overall, where he was selected by the New York Islanders.

After being traded from the Islanders to the Vancouver Canucks in the Bo Horvat deal, Raty development began to take an upward trajectory and so far this year, he's showing that he belongs in the National Hockey League on a regular basis. While he may only have one assist in eight games, it's the little things in-game that he's doing well - battling hard in the corners, forcing turnovers, etc.

Raty just turned 22 yesterday, so he's got a long way to go, but he's developing well and could end up becoming a strong middle-six forward in the National Hockey League with the ability to produce offense at five-on-five and be a threat on the powerplay.