Maple Leafs Acquire Aatu Raty From Canucks for Quillan and Buhr

The Toronto Maple Leafs started Thursday morning with Aatu Raty sitting on waivers. By the afternoon, he was theirs.

The Leafs announced Thursday they had acquired the 23-year-old Finnish forward from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for forwards Jacob Quillan and Brandon Buhr. Raty cleared waivers earlier in the day — the key detail that made the deal work — before the trade was finalized.

What Toronto is getting

Raty isn't a goal-scorer yet, but he has a skill the Leafs clearly covet: he wins faceoffs. A lot of them. Over the past two seasons he took 821 draws for Vancouver — the second-most on the team — and won them at a 60.2% rate, the best mark among Canucks forwards. Across 118 career NHL games, he's at 59.2%.

The resume has some shine on it, too. Raty was a second-round pick (52nd overall) by the New York Islanders in the 2021 NHL Draft, came over to Vancouver in the January 2023 Bo Horvat trade, won the Calder Cup with Abbotsford in 2025, and helped Finland capture gold at the 2026 IIHF World Championship with four goals and three assists in 10 games.

NHL production has been modest — one goal in four games this season, 14 goals and 29 points in 118 career games — and he was a healthy scratch for Vancouver's first two games this year. Toronto is betting a fresh start unlocks more.

What Vancouver is getting

Canucks GM Ryan Johnson framed it as a depth play. "We want to thank Aatu for all he has done for the organization, and we wish him well in Toronto," Johnson said in a release. "By acquiring Jacob and Brandon this move gives our group two new young players to work with as we continue to look for ways to improve our overall depth."

Quillan, 24, is the headliner coming back. The undrafted center scored the national championship-winning overtime goal for Quinnipiac in 2023, signed with Toronto in 2024, and has 24 NHL games on his ledger. His real body of work has been in the AHL: 14 goals and 36 points in 40 games with the Toronto Marlies last season, plus a Calder Cup after nine points in 19 playoff games.

Buhr, also 24, is the project — 19 goals and 36 points in 35 NCAA games for Union College last season before signing with Toronto in March. He has yet to make his NHL debut.

Why the Leafs made this move

Look at the roster and it clicks. Toronto's fourth line needed insurance, and Raty — a 6-foot-2 center who dominates the faceoff dot — fits the bottom-six mold. The waiver-clearing detail is what gives the Leafs real flexibility: Raty can now move freely between the NHL and AHL until he appears in 10 NHL games or spends 30 days on an NHL roster. That's exactly the kind of roster elasticity a contending team wants from its depth forwards.

All three players are on expiring contracts and can become restricted free agents after this season, so this is a low-stakes swing for both sides: Toronto gets faceoff insurance it can shuttle up and down, and Vancouver gets two young players to develop.

When does Raty debut?

That is the open question. Raty remained on Vancouver's NHL roster at the time the trade was announced, and Toronto was set to host the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night — a brutally quick turnaround for a player who would need to meet a whole new team. The likelier path: he joins his new teammates over the weekend, gets a look in practice, and the coaching staff decides where he slots in.

Watch the faceoff numbers when he does play. If Raty keeps winning north of 60% of his draws, the fourth line gets an instant upgrade — and in a conference where special teams and zone starts can swing a playoff race, a bottom-six center who starts every shift with the puck is worth more than his stat line suggests.

Sources

• Sportsnet — Maple Leafs acquire forward Aatu Raty in trade with Canucks
• Reuters — Maple Leafs deal for Canucks F Aatu Raty
• NHL.com — Maple Leafs Complete Trade With Vancouver