Player Information
Birthday: November 14, 2002
League: Finland, Liiga/ U20 SM-sarja
Team: Kärpät Oulun
Height: 185 cm/6’1″
Weight: 82 kg/181 lbs
Position: Centre
Shoots: Left
Introduction
Aatu Räty is a young Finnish forward who was widely considered for the best part of last season, the number one prospect available for the 2021 Draft. Räty had two impressive seasons with U20 Kärpät in SM-sarja which would prove to be a great launching pad for him. Season 18-19 he completed with 31 points in 41 games in regular season and 12 points in 10 games in playoffs. He was playing also for Finland teams U17 and U18.
In the 2019-20 season, he played 30 games in SM-sarja with 21 points. He was promoted for 12 games to mens league and scored twice and add 2 assists. Räty was also invited to U20 Finland team where he had three points in seven games.
Initially this season, Räty struggled to compete in Liiga. Lacking confidence, was inconsistent in his performances and he was demoted back to SM-sarja. As a consequence he was not invited to World juniors Championship.
He could have been devastated and kept on with the not so good performances or it could been some kind of wake up call for him; it seems like the latter is true. Playing with the U20 team gave him some confidence back and in eight games he scored three goals and added four assists. Räty was immediatelly promoted back to Liiga where he appeared in 24 games with 3 goals and 2 assists so far. He is playing with his older brother Aku, a fifth round selection of the Arizona Coyotes.
Playstyle
Räty is a two-way versatile forward with playmaking ability and vision who can play all three positions if necessary. But the center position is the most natural for him as he is responsible in his defensive assignments over 200-feet. Räty is quite big and strong, that’s why he is hard to get off the puck. He can make plays for his teammates or finish them off himself. He plays with a controlled aggressiveness and works to get puck to the net or into the dangerous slot areas. He can be prone to driving the net and rushing the slot areas without surveying what’s around him at times, as he does surrender great passing options in order to hold the puck. But this is common for prospects who are just finding their feet in a pro-league (sometimes it looks like they lack vision to make good passes). He is not afraid to get involved in the corners and dirty areas, utilising his frame and aggressive playstyle to a fuller effect. He plays somewhat a safe transition game. He makes short yet simple passes in the middle of the ice and rarely makes mistakes because of that.
Good shift here below: Räty is always in the right postion in defensive zone. He then immediatelly turns to the forcheck, makes himself available in offensive zone then drives play and makes short pass in the middle of the ice, in the end he makes a poke check:
Good positioning and defensive play, ending with a foul on Räty:
Räty jumps on the ice and immediatelly goes in fron of then net, this play ends up resulting in a goal:
Räty wins the faceoff, note his movements around the net and down-low. Defenceman must always track him and as due to this he excels in making space for his teammates:
Skating
Räty is very powerful and strong on his skates. He is fantastic with his crossovers, but there is need for a little bit of work on his speed and edges as he tends to get a bit heavy and inconsistent in his stride. He is strong on the boards and opponents can’t throw him off balance easily. I would say that his style of skating could be compared to Jesperi Kotkaniemi, but Räty is faster.
You can see how Räty can drive play from his own end using his powerful skating and crossovers:
Shooting
Räty has an accurate wrist shot and heavy slap shot. Räty is a prominent shooter and is always looking to get pucks on net quickly; aiding in his ability to generate rebounds. He uses his good shooting ability in powerplays, especially along the half-boards from the left side. He can shoot from blue line, acute angles or parked at the net waiting for rebounds or a tip-in. He has been recently given time in Kärpät on second powerplay unit, which should help his point production.
As we can see on this video, he uses his wrist shot from the blue line hoping for deflection as he knows there is a screen in front of the goaltender:
He is not afraid to go to the net and find himself in good position to score:
In this video you can see his accurate wrist shot from his spot on the powerplay:
We can see example of his good slapashot:
Stick play
He has really good puck-handling skills. He has got soft hands and good-to-very-good hand eye coordination. He often carries the puck through the middle ice lane and more often than not will find an entry pass and follow the play up. He should make more effort to create danger chances by himself. As his skating improves, so should his ability to be a more prominent stickhandler in transition. He tends to favour being a peripheral option too often for my liking, I want to see him take the game on and dominate on a more consistent basis. Adding more deception and versatility east/west will do him good. It seems as if Räty is trying to simplify his game. It is noticible, especially in this season after his promotion back to Liiga.
Shooting from distance is a regular occurrence for him. Therefore sometimes it seems like he is lacking of vison:
Here is an example where he makes the right decision to drive play by himslef:
Example of good stick handling:
This shift shows how he can win battle on the boards and then get to the net and make a nice deke on the goaltender:
Defensive Style and Physicality
Räty does lot of aggressive forchecking and he can develop great amount of pressure against his opponents. His style of play and his resilience can be very unpleasant for his opponents.
Räty in a nutshell is a very defensively responsible two-way center/forward. He is not lazy in his backchecking but he typically stays higher in the defensive zone to support his defensemen as an exit support and to cover the slot areas. He makes very smart decisions when it comes to his defensive play. He can use his hockey senses to read the play and disrupt an opponnents attack.
These are examples of his good defensive work:
Two examples of his good backchecking:
Conclusion
Räty is a versatile center with flashes of speed, puck handling ability, a good shot and intelligent off-puck play. He is good defensively and on special teams. He can make his teammates better. I really like his selfless team effort.
It will be interesting to see if Räty can fix his flaws. There is certainly some work to do, but there’s skill-set to be number two center in the NHL at least. For now, his skill-set is more of a middle six center for me. But you can see improvements continuing in most aspects of his game as he matures.
Comparison
Saku Koivu and Mikko Koivu
Both Saku and Mikko were good two-way players with good offensive upside at the NHL level. Räty’s selflessnes, awareness and playmaking should see him mature as a fine second line centre, it may just take some time.
#13 by RECRUIT SCOUTING
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