Canucks youngster shining at World Championships after being shafted by Foote
It’s amazing what a change of scenery can do for a player.
Although many Vancouver Canucks players struggled in 2025-26, you could argue that Aatu Räty was treated rather unfairly.
Early on in the season, the Finnish centre was one of the few Canucks players who was winning their matchups in terms of expected goals. Despite playing firmly in a bottom-six role, he even led the Canucks in terms of even-strength points at one moment in December.
Although he’d done his job, he couldn’t get out of Adam Foote’s doghouse.
The 24-year-old was a healthy scratch 14 times down the stretch for the Canucks, largely in favour of veteran pivot David Kämpf. As his playing time diminished, so did his effectiveness.
It was a questionable decision at the time, and that notion has been amplified during Räty’s strong start at the World Championships in Switzerland.
Räty has been on fire for Finland at the Worlds. Through five games, the Oulu, Finland native has three goals and five points. He’s currently third on the team in scoring behind Jesse Puljujarvi and Mikko Lehtonen.
The 6-foot-2 centre has been showcasing his shot with a couple of those goals, one of which came on Thursday against Latvia.
Aatu Räty with a hard wrist shot that the Latvian goalie can’t handle as the puck pops off his shoulder and into the net. Räty now has 3G-1A-4P in 4 games
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On Friday, he added to his point totals with an assist during Finland’s victory over Great Britain.
Aatu Räty with another assist today. That makes it a five game point streak. 3G-2A-5P in 5 games.
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His success at the Worlds makes you wonder, why wasn’t Foote playing him more?
Räty’s footspeed was an issue for the Canucks throughout the season. That was evident back in training camp, after his offseason training was hampered by an ankle injury.
Still, the battle level and the ability to defend were evident. And his production was respectable until a string of healthy scratches ruined his momentum.
But perhaps in Räty’s situation, there just wasn’t synergy between coach and player. That can clearly be an issue, as former Canucks general manager Mike Gillis alluded to this week on Sekeres & Price.
“When you’ve decided on your coach, you have to ensure that the players you bring in are able to be coachable by that coach,” he said.
“We lived it in our last year there [in Vancouver back in 2013-14], not naming any names, like you know, trying to put a round peg into a square hole. It doesn’t work.”
Regardless, Räty is a player that shouldn’t be slept on. He’s got the work ethic and an underrated shot. If he can add another gear to his skating, there’s a chance that he could have a bigger impact for the Canucks in 2025-26.
Räty also has the confidence to back it up.
“I’m really proud of a lot of stuff I’ve been doing,” Räty told Daily Hive earlier this season. “I know those things, once you stack them up and you play a long time, that’s just gonna make you a much better player.”