New York Rangers: Where do Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil fit into the lineup?
The New York Rangers’ two first round draft picks from the 2017 draft, Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil will play with the big club this season. Where do the two youngsters fit into the current lineup?
Once the New York Rangers declared their intent to rebuild, speculation began swirling as to when top prospects Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil would play in the NHL.
The two 2017 first rounders are likely to be recalled soon as the regular season winds down. At the time of writing, the Rangers have 11 games remaining on their schedule.
Per the Collective Bargaining Agreement, players on their entry level contracts can play up to nine games in their first NHL season before the first year of that contract is consumed. Andersson and Chytil, being drafted only last year fall into this category.
“We are not going to burn the first year off any contracts,” [said] general manager Jeff Gorton.
Andersson would be eligible to play his first NHL game on Thursday, March 22nd in Philadelphia. However, Chytil already played two of his allotted nine games earlier this season. Therefore he can’t play for the Rangers until Monday, March 26th against the Washington Capitals.
As the Rangers currently have an abundance of centers, where would the two rookies be deployed?
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Deck chairs on the Titanic
The Rangers already have a number of centers in their lineup: Mika Zibanejad, Kevin Hayes, Ryan Spooner, Vladislav Namestnikov and David Desharnais. Due to the logjam, Spooner is presently playing on the wing.
Andersson is probably the easier of the two to slot into the lineup. As more of a two-way player, it would make sense for Andersson to be the team’s fourth line center. Desharnais then becomes the 13th forward and Peter Holland returns to Hartford to replace Andersson.
Fitting Chytil into the lineup looks a little trickier. As befits his skill, play style and AHL production (10 goals, 28 points in 41 games) it would make sense to slot him in the middle-six in a sheltered, offense-oriented role.
The candidate for him to replace would be Namestnikov. He is centering the team’s third line with Jimmy Vesey and Pavel Buchnevich on the wings. If this were to happen, Namestnikov then slides over to the wing where he played in Tampa.
This move allows Buchnevich to reunite with Zibanejad and Chris Kreider on the team’s top line. Then, Jesper Fast slots in on the fourth line to compliment his fellow Swede, Andersson.
With an extra forward on the team, another player would have to be sent down to Hartford. This would likely (hopefully) be Cody McLeod, who would need to clear waivers in order to be assigned to the Wolf Pack.
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In summary, when Chytil and Andersson are called up I propose the lines look like this:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Buchnevich
Spooner-Hayes-Zuccarello
Vesey-Chytil-Namestnikov
Carey-Andersson-Fast
Desharnais (13th forward)
However, there are other options to consider.
Just wing it
With the plethora of centers at the Rangers’ disposal, one of Chytil or Andersson could play on the wing for the balance of the season instead. However, I doubt that both line up at wing.
Yes, it would be more beneficial in the long run for them to play at their natural position. However, for seven or nine games, I think that having the NHL experience, in a proper role and corresponding ice time is more important than position for now.
Between the two, I believe that Chytil is more likely to end up on the wing than Andersson this season. Again, this has more to do with putting him in a place where he can produce than his talent as a center.
The reasoning here is that the team may desire to keep Namestnikov at center to evaluate him to see how he fits into the team’s long-term plans. By contrast, Chytil is firmly part of the team’s future outlook as the organization’s top prospect. The lines listed above could remain intact with the only minor modification being to swap Chytil and Namestnikov.
Alternatively, the Rangers may decide to see how Chytil performs in the top-six. This would mean he would likely join either Kreider and Zibanejad (Buchnevich remaining on the third line) or Hayes and Zuccarello (Spooner either sliding down or replacing Fast).
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The future is now
Regardless of where Chytil and Andersson play within the Rangers lineup, they will have the opportunity to prove that the organization’s faith in them is justified. This will mark the first time that fans will get a glimpse at how well they can handle playing significant roles in the NHL.
As the team’s first round picks for the first time in a long time, along with their performances this season at the World Junior Championship and in the AHL as teenagers, the expectations for the duo are sky high.
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The two are already prominent faces of the Rangers’ rebuild and youth movement. Getting this experience this early in their careers, as teenagers to boot, will be invaluable to their development. However, they must be given every opportunity to play and learn at the NHL level, otherwise their call-ups will be for naught.