biturbo19
Registered User
- Jul 13, 2010
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- 11,241
Better? Or more impactful? Nobody expects Raty to score 30 goals (though, given his age that remains a possibility at least). Horvat has now been a #1/#2 centre on 2 teams because he can score and is good on the draw. Raty will likely top out as a 3C but could be a strong match-up guy and decent PKer. His smarts should allow him to do better at those aspects of the game than Horvat.
We'll see in a couple of years how each case translates to winning. Again it's not probable that Raty is the more impactful player but I think it's a deeper question than scoring and being good on draws.
As above, I highly doubt Raty becomes a high end 2C but, in terms of impact, he could be a really important piece.
The thing is, Horvat was never really limited defensively by his hockey smarts, it was always about his inability to move quickly enough to the places he should be. He learned a lot of bad habits here with the Canucks, being pressed into that role when he was clearly not equipped to handle it. His skating improved, but it was always still lacking badly in that first step and agility. He could get going pretty good on the attack and translated that to effectiveness as an offensive player...but that inability to quickly adjust and compensate defensively without the puck always just left him underwhelming as a "shutdown guy".
Raty is a significantly worse skater than Bo was at a similar point in his career, and Horvat's improvement in his skating was already a pretty rare feat.
Raty is closer to when people thought Hodgson was gonna be the responsible 2-way presence presumptive captain Toews equivalent and Schroeder was going to lead the offensive charge.
Just look around the league at truly effective #3Cs. How many of them can't skate? How much can Raty really improve that aspect of his game? Because if he can't...he's just gonna be another filler player. You can't be an effective checking line #3C if you can't skate in today's NHL. The guys who manage as just average skaters, do so by having an absolutely engulfing quality as a physical presence and absolutely top notch positional sense.