For the Vancouver Canucks, the position to watch when training camp opened was goaltending. Now the position to watch is centre. And the player to watch is Aatu Raty.
The 21-year-old prospect, who found another skating gear over the summer and whom head coach Rick Tocchet has described as a different player than he was a year ago, was one of the most prominent Canucks in Saturday’s 4-2 pre-season road loss to the Calgary Flames.
Two-thirds of the way through the Canucks’ exhibition schedule, Raty centred the top line between 20-goal scorers Conor Garland and Nils Hoglander. The Finn’s 18 minutes of ice time included 4:17 on the power play and 2:49 shorthanded. He had three shots, two hits, took 26 faceoffs and hit his spot on a pretty second-period goal from a two-on-one with Garland.
All of this is encouraging for the Canucks and Raty, a central piece in the Bo Horvat trade two seasons ago and one Vancouver’s top five prospects. Raty looks like a key part of the organization’s future.
But with intrigue over the status of veteran NHL centres J.T. Miller and Teddy Blueger, Raty’s future with the Canucks may be more immediate than people think.
Coming off a 103-point season and apparently healthy, Miller still hasn’t appeared in a pre-season game — and the Canucks have only two of them remaining, starting Monday in Edmonton. Miller has been practising regularly and both he and Tocchet insist the No. 1 centre is fully fit. We’ll see.
Blueger also hasn’t yet played, although there is less mystery surrounding him. He had undisclosed, off-season surgery and was not a full participant at training camp last weekend in Penticton. Like Miller, Blueger has also been fully practising without any apparent problems.
Given the NHL salary cap and Canucks management’s determination to stay out of off-season LTIR, which means accounting for nearly $10.75-million in cap space for injured players Thatcher Demko (knee), Dakota Joshua (cancer) and Tucker Poolman (neurological), there really aren’t many positions actually up for grabs in Vancouver.
By our calculations — and pending no further injuries — the Canucks will be able to afford no more than 21 healthy players on their opening-night roster Oct. 9.
But if there is anything more going on with Miller or Blueger, the team will need another centre. And Raty appears to have elevated himself to the on-deck circle, ahead of incumbent depth centre Nils Aman.
“Yeah, I mean, he deserves it,” Tocchet said before Saturday’s game about the extended audition for Raty, who spent all of last season in the American Hockey League. “He’s got some stiffness in (his game). You know, we like his game. He’s a good faceoff guy. I think he’s really improved the last couple years. So we’re going to give him a long look.”
Tocchet reiterated that Miller is “fine” and said last year’s leading scorer will play in the pre-season.
“We want to get some of these (other) centres playing,” the coach said. “Millsy came into camp in unreal shape. He skated a lot this summer. He’ll get a game in. He’ll definitely play Friday, but we’ll see if he’ll play Monday.”
After the road game in Edmonton, the Canucks have their final dress rehearsal Friday at Rogers Arena against the Oilers.
SATURDAY SYNOPSIS
The Canucks played with more pace and engagement overall than they did in Friday’s 3-1 loss to the Kraken in Seattle. But they chased the entire game after Brayden Pachal opened scoring at 4:23 and the Flames made it 2-0 on Ryan Lomberg’s goal at 6:53.
Vancouver goalie Arturs Silovs never saw Pachal’s point shot through defenders Carson Soucy and Vincent Desharnais, and the netminder couldn’t react quickly enough to stop Lomberg scoring on a loose puck that spilled from another screen.
Calgary’s other goals were similar: a deflection in traffic by Blake Coleman and Adam Klapka’s screened shot from distance that Silovs didn’t pick up in time.
Silovs has been a wonderful story for the Canucks since forcing his way to the spotlight in last spring’s playoffs, but seeing around screens and tracking pucks through traffic have been problems for him. It was hard to fault Vancouver’s projected starter on any of the Calgary goals, but four goals on 24 shots never look good statistically.
The Canucks’ opening-night plans for goaltending were revealed in Tocchet’s pre-game remarks that recently-signed NHL veteran Kevin Lankinen will likely start Monday’s game in Edmonton, and the plan is to have Silovs play the pre-season finale on Friday.
THE FOURTH GOALIE
After watching Silovs, Lankinen and third-stringer Jiri Patera put in solid pre-season starts, minor-league backup Nikita Tolopilo finally got a chance to play the third period on Saturday. The raw, 24-year-old stopped all eight shots he faced, and looked especially sharp getting across the goalmouth to smother Yegor Sharangovich’s one-timer.
LEKKERIMAKI ROLL
No. 1 Canucks prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki scored his first pre-season goal, but had probably his least impressive game or scrimmage since the Young Stars tournament two weeks ago. Lekkerimaki’s goal was a fluke, a blocked shot that caromed off Flames defenceman Artem Grushnikov and arced over goalie Dan Vladar.
Lekkerimaki managed just the one shot on target during 14:58 of ice time, which included 3:44 on the top power play. He skated on the second line beside minor-league centre Max Sasson, another prospect who has impressed through all stages of the pre-season, and NHL winger Daniel Sprong.
GONE, NOT FORGOTTEN
Vancouver defenceman Guillaume Brisebois cleared waivers and will likely start the season in the American Hockey League. One of the longest-tenured players in the organization, Brisebois was finally going to crack the Canucks’ opening-night roster a year ago but suffered a concussion late in the pre-season on a dangerous hit by Seattle’s Brandon Tanev.
Brisebois’ career looked in jeopardy for most of last year as he played only eight games for the Abbotsford Canucks.
But the 27-year-old completed training camp last week without setbacks and fully practised this week with teammates.
“Everything that’s transpired to this point has been a plan that’s been put in place by the organization,” Canucks assistant general manager Ryan Johnson said during Sportsnet’s broadcast on Saturday. “We have so much belief in him as a player, but also as a person, and so we wanted to take the right steps. . . and give him a chance to take the next step. And, obviously, I think the next step for him is getting into game action. We get him into Abbotsford, and get him up and going. We have a lot of belief still in Guillaume Brisebois. He’s grown up in this organization, and we really want to see it through with him.”
