Incoming forwards Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Räty plus first-round pick from the N.Y. Islanders look solid now, could tick up if their play breaks the right way
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There are a few ways to look at Monday’s blockbuster Vancouver Canucks trade of captain Bo Horvat to the New York Islanders.
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The straightforward take is this trade having a big look towards the future: There’s the first-round pick, which if used this year could land a player that would hopefully prove to be an intriguing rookie in 2024-25, when Canucks management hope their squad will be tracking into a Cup contender; and there’s Aatu Räty, an intriguing prospect who has already played a handful of NHL contests this season and scored a pair of goals, including one against the Canucks.
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“This is a good trade. Beauvillier is perfectly fine and he’s the kind of guy that hockey men love and you could flip in another trade next season. This is a trade with its eyes on two years from now,” one NHL scout said.
The Canucks are finally amassing some young, top-end talent who could break into the NHL as a collective unit, buttressing the likes of Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes a couple seasons from now.
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That said, there’s also the cynical take on Monday’s trade, that the first-round pick was simply to convince the Canucks to take on Anthony Beauvillier’s contract, that Beauvillier hasn’t lived up to the hype that saw him drafted late in the first round in 2015 and is thus paid too much for the kind of player he’s turned out to be and thus the trade is really just Horvat for Räty, a forward who fell out of the first round and was picked in the second round, no matter what Canucks GM Patrik Allvin might try to claim about Räty having had first-round-pick potential.
“Given the past decade in Vancouver, this was good work but not good enough in my opinion,” another NHL scout said of the trade.
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From the moment the Canucks signed J.T. Miller last summer, it was pretty much a certainty they were never going to be able to re-sign Horvat. The contract he’d be able to land in free agency wouldn’t have fit under the Canucks salary cap.
And then Horvat’s scoring went stratospheric.
A trade was inevitable. Whether this will prove to have been a great trade will be clear within a couple of seasons, based on what happens with Beauvillier, what kind of player Räty turns out to be and who the Canucks pick with the first rounder they’ve added from the Islanders.
Let’s take a look at Beauvillier and Räty:
Anthony Beauvillier
The 25-year-old Quebecker has scored 209 points in 457 career NHL games after making his debut as an 18-year-old. That’s low-end, second-line production.
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When he’s at his best, the game is pretty simple, he said during a Tuesday morning Zoom call with the media.
“Move my feet and hound the puck and play on instinct,” he said. He’s lacked a bit of puck luck this year, he added.
In the wake of Ilya Mikheyev being shut down for the season because of a knee injury, there’s an obvious hole in the lineup for Beauvillier to immediately fill.
He’s also got another year left on his contract. If he’s able to be the solid, depth scorer he’s been at times in New York, then Beauvillier will be an interesting trade chip come next season.
The Canucks could yet add to the haul they’ve returned for Horvat.
Aatu Räty
Canucks GM Allvin was giddy about adding the Finnish centre.
Allvin wasn’t wrong in suggesting that Räty might have been a first-round pick two years ago. Before his draft year, there was even buzz in some quarters that he could go at the top end of the draft.
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Räty’s birthday is in November, so he was only just 17 when he made his professional debut for Karpat in Finland’s Liiga late in the 2019-20 season. But his first full season with Karpat, 2020-21 and going into his draft year, was a struggle.
His stock fell, though many still — like Allvin — thought he should have been drafted late in the first round.
“Would’ve endorsed him where the Canucks took Danila Klimovich. Hell of a shot, some handling skill, a willingness to play inside,” Elite Prospects’ J.D. Burke said of Räty, a player he’s long admired.
The flaws in Räty’s game, though are clear, Burke said: His skating isn’t great and how quickly does he process the game?
“Decision-making with the puck. Movement away from the puck, that sort of thing,” Burke added.
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For his part, Räty agreed with the skating criticisms.
“I think it’s improved this year, but I still really want it to get better,” he said.
It should not go without notice that the criticism of Horvat coming out of junior was his skating. No one says that now.
If Räty hits his marks, he could turn out to be a very handy second-line centre for the Canucks.
The first rounder
If the Islanders miss the playoffs and finish 13th, 14th or 15th worst in the NHL, the Canucks will get their first rounder in this year’s draft.
If the Islanders miss the playoffs and slip to 12th worst or below, they’ll have the right to keep this year’s pick and instead give the Canucks their first rounder next year.
Many prospects taken in the top half of the first round are in the NHL by the time they’re 20.
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This year’s draft is a deep one.
If the Canucks get the Islanders’ pick this year, the player they draft could be ready for the NHL by 2024.
Coupled with the Canucks’ own first rounder this year, which is surely going to be in the top 10, the Canucks could find themselves with a couple of top-notch young players breaking into the lineup in 2024.
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Canucks trade Bo Horvat: ‘The timing was right, it was a good trade for both teams’ — GM Patrik Allvin
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Farewell to the Captain: Bo Horvat’s Canucks years in photos
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Canucks prospects: Newest addition Aatu Raty to be sent to Abbotsford
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reference: theprovince.com