Finnish
winger Aku Räty, 23, has signed a two-year contract with his
hometown team Kärpät Oulu, the
Liiga club announced on Tuesday.
Räty had spent the past two seasons in North America in the
systems of the Arizona Coyotes, Utah
HC and Chicago
Blackhawks.
“Expectations for next season are high,” said Räty. “The
team is really good, and with a championship-winning coach on top of that.
I hope that as a leading player I can help the team return Kärpät
to where it belongs – at the top of the league.”
“It’s great to have Aku back in Oulu,” said club sports
director Kimmo Kapanen. “He is a versatile player, grew up with
Kärpät and knows what it means to play
for this club. We believe he will be a significant part of next
season’s team.”
Räty was drafted in the fifth round, 151st overall, by
Arizona in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. He played with Kärpät,
then one season with Ilves Tampere before heading to North
America in 2023.
Räty played one NHL game for the Coyotes in 2023-24 but otherwise
spent the past two seasons in the AHL
with the Tucson Roadrunners and Rockford IceHogs. On the 2025 trade
deadline, Räty’s rights were moved from Utah to Chicago along with the rights to defensemen Victor Söderström
– who was playing in Sweden at the time – and Shea Weber –
who hadn’t played since 2021 and was unofficially retired – in exchange for a fifth-round draft pick in 2026.
Victor Söderström has been named the top
defenseman in the Swedish Hockey League for the 2024-25 season. As a
result, he has been awarded the Börje Salming
Trophy.
Räty’s younger brother Aatu is a center for the Vancouver
Canucks.
Kärpät had high
expectations for last season but missed the playoffs, causing
the club maangement to issue an apology
to the fans.
Keeping the puck out of the Kärpät net was a particular issue
for the team, and during the course of the season the team acquired,
among others, defensemen Dominik
Mašin, Marcus
Björk and Ville
Pokka and goaltender Damian
Clara, with limited success. As the transfer deadline approached,
native son Jesse
Puljuärvi was rumored to be headed there after securing his
release from the Pittsburgh
Penguins, but he instead signed with the Carolina
Hurricanes.
The payroll for 2025-26
seems lower so far – Räty’s
one game represents the only NHL experience on the team so far –
but the club does have prospects Viljami Marjala (Buffalo
Sabres), Janne Peltonen (Chicago) and
Visa Vedenpää (Seattle
Kraken) under contract.
A perennial powerhouse and seven-time champion in Finland since being
promoted to the top-tier Liiga in 2000, this past season was bitterly
disappointing for Kärpät Oulu. Despite the high
hopes and a high payroll, the team finished 13th in the
16-team league, missing the post-season for the first time since the
turn of the Millenium.
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