Islanders Prospect Aatu Raty Admits to Some difficulties Since Returning to Karpat

New York Islanders prospect Aatu Raty has been finding it hard in Finland since returning to Karpat last month.

Raty has played in just three games since his return and his ice time has been limited. He is a minus-3 and has two penalty minutes over the course of those three games.

In an interview with local paper Kaleva, Raty admitted that it’s been hard sometimes to play in a different role with Karpat and that he isn’t getting a lot of ice time. The comments were part of a feature in Kaleva and reported on Twitter by NHL.com’s Pasi Tuominen.

#Isles prospect Aatu Raty admits “it’s sometimes hard” that he plays in a “different” role with #Kärpät now and isn’t getting loads of ice time. He told local paper @Kaleva_fi that he expects to join the Isles organization in the spring should the #Liiga season end early. #NHLfi

— Pasi Tuominen (@PasiTuominen) October 21, 2021

Aatu Raty also revealed that he expected to join the Islanders organization in the spring if his Liiga season ended early. Raty had been at New York Islanders training camp for the first week before being returned to his home club.

Raty returned to the Karpat lineup on Friday and played on the team’s second line. He appeared in their lineup the following game as well, but on the team’s fourth line.

Concern had already begun to fester among fans after it was reported that Aatu Raty had been a scratch for back-to-back games early in his return to Finland. However, when asked about it a few weeks back Islanders head coach Barry Trotz downplayed his concern.

“He’s playing on a very good hockey team,” Trotz said at the time. “Obviously he just got back there. They probably have got things a little bit set in terms of how they started guys with their training camp. He’s a good hockey player. He’s probably going to be on a World Junior team. For now, I’m not too worried about his development.

“He’s got all the tools and they must have a really good team for him to be a healthy scratch. He’s a terrific kid, so there’s no reason not to play him.”

Trotz deflected questions about the communication that the Islanders have with the current clubs of its prospects. He was certain that general manager Lou Lamoriello and the development staff were monitoring his development overseas.