Aku Raty was officially signed to a one-year contract with the Edmonton Oilers on May 25. The signing comes after Raty had an incredible year for Karpat in the Finnish professional league that saw him score 20 goals and 57 points in 51 games.

The 6-foot right-winger was tied for seventh in Liiga scoring. Raty is familiar with the North American game, in 2019 the Finnish forward was selected in the fifth round (151st overall) to the Phoenix Coyotes. In his first AHL season (2023-24) the right-shot forward had a very good year with Tucson, putting up 15 goals and 29 assists for 44 points in 55 games. However, the year after was a massive step back. In 65 games between Tucson and Rockford, Raty was only able to score six goals with 25 points. Now that leads us right back to his 2025-26 season.

Prioritizing possession

Throughout my viewings of the newly signed forward, it was clear to see that he prioritizes possession and the safe play. Below is a clip that can explain what I mean very well.

You can see the outside edge work on display and the ability to keep the defenders off of him. It’s not a highlight reel play, but he is trying to gain some extra time for his teammates to get away from their checks. It eventually works out and once he cycles the puck low to his linemate you can see the space he has to work with. On the next clip it’s almost identical, however Raty makes the pass to the defenceman and skates all the way to the blueline where he finds himself wide open.

There are two things to note on the above clip; first once again we are going back to the topic of prioritizing possession and making the safe play, Raty gets........

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