Aatu Räty Might Be the Kind of Player the Maple Leafs Need

Sometimes I wonder if the Vancouver Canucks gave up on Aatu Räty a little too soon. I wasn't expecting him to become a top-six forward, but I thought there might be another way for him to stick in the NHL. I would have liked to see Vancouver try him as a fourth-line defensive centre, the kind of player who can take important faceoffs, start shifts in his own zone, and make life a little easier for his teammates.

Toronto Maple Leafs fans know that role. David Kampf spent plenty of time doing the unglamorous work in Toronto, taking defensive-zone draws and giving the team a dependable option down the middle. I'm not suggesting Räty would automatically become another Kampf. They're different players, and Räty still has things to prove. But with his faceoff ability and experience, I thought a useful NHL role might be waiting for him if a team was willing to give him a chance to settle into it.

Why Didn't It Work in Vancouver?

The Canucks had their reasons for moving on. Räty had played 66 games for Vancouver last season, scoring four goals and adding 10 assists. Those numbers aren't terrible for a young depth centre, but they don't exactly make a compelling case for a bigger offensive role, either. His skating has also been identified as a limitation, and in today's NHL, a centre can have good instincts and win faceoffs but still struggle to keep up with the pace.

Perhaps Vancouver decided it had seen enough. The organization traded Räty to Toronto for Jacob Quillan and Brandon Buhr, two players it hopes can develop into useful pieces. That's a reasonable gamble, particularly for a team trying to improve its overall depth. Still, I can't help wondering whether Räty's value might have looked different if the Canucks had stopped asking what he could become offensively and focused instead on what he might do defensively.

Toronto Gets a Chance to Find Out.

For the Maple Leafs, this is a relatively low-risk chance to see whether Räty can carve out a role. He's already played 118 NHL games and has won close to 60 percent of his career faceoffs. That's something to work with. He isn't arriving as an untested prospect who needs years in the minors just to find out whether he can handle NHL competition.

Of course, there's no guarantee Toronto will find him a place. Räty may need time with the Marlies, and the organization will have to decide whether his skating and overall game are good enough for regular NHL duty. But I like the idea of giving him a fresh start. The Maple Leafs have seen the value of a dependable defensive centre, and they might be able to give Räty a clearer picture of what his job needs to look like.

Maybe the Canucks guessed right on Räty.

Maybe Vancouver is right, and Räty simply isn't going to become the player it hoped for when it made the Bo Horvat trade. But sometimes a player doesn't need a new identity. He needs a team that sees a specific job he can do well. I'd have liked to see the Canucks explore that possibility. Now the Maple Leafs get to try.

And if Räty turns into a useful fourth-line centre, Vancouver might look back and wonder whether it traded away a player who still had something to offer. That's not a prediction. It's just a possibility worth watching.