Canucks Place Aatu Raty On Waivers

The Vancouver Canucks are days away from activating forward Filip Chytil (muscular shoulder strain) from the injured reserve. To activate Chytil, the Canucks needed to create roster space and made a peculiar roster move to do so.

According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Vancouver has placed center Aatu Räty on waivers. If he clears, the team will assign him to the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks. However, it is not guaranteed he will clear waivers without any issues.

To be fair, Vancouver has a lot of centers on the roster. In eight games this season, 12 forwards have taken a faceoff for the Canucks. That’s not to argue that each one of those forwards is a center, but Vancouver realistically has six players who can routinely center a line, with only four spots to fill. In this case, the Canucks have determined that they can survive without Räty.

However, as is often the case, one person’s junk is another person’s treasure. Räty has struggled offensively over the past few years, scoring 12 goals and 26 points in 103 games, averaging 11:31 of ice time per game. Regardless, he has one quality that many teams covet. It’s not the flashiest statistic in the league, but Räty dominates the faceoff circle, winning 687 of 1,154 (59.5%) of his faceoffs since the beginning of the 2024-25 season.

Furthermore, Räty has begun 54.9% of his shifts in the defensive zone through that stretch, showing the value he could have on multiple clubs. Adding to his intrigue is his league-minimum salary this season and team control through the 2029-30 season.

Because of his league-minimum salary this season, you could count on one hand the number of teams who couldn’t afford him this year. Even if a team has a strong team faceoff percentage in the early stages of the 2026-27 campaign, Räty can provide surplus value if a team has an open roster spot.