Is it time to cut bait on Filip Chytil?
Every season, there is one New York Rangers player the fans love to hate. The names are familiar and include Tanner Glass, Brett Howden, Brendan Smith, Jimmy Vesey and Lias Andersson. This season, it appears that Filip Chytil has inherited that unwanted role.
In the case of Glass, it was Alain Vigneault’s obsession with keeping him in the lineup at the expense of other players with more promise. With Smith, it was a big contract that he never really earned. Jimmy Vesey never lived up to the hype of the bidding war when he was a free agent fresh out of college. Andersson never lived up to his seventh overall slot in the draft. Howden was one of the key pieces in a huge trade who never lived up to his promise.
For Chytil, it’s been the fact that despite a tantalizing skill set and bursts of brilliance, he has never been able to do it consistently enough. Fans are getting tired of waiting and the question is whether the team feels the same and if so, what should they do about it.
It’s frustrating and quite a predicament. Just when patience is wearing thin with him, he scores a goal that displays his skill as in this wicked backhand against Nashville.
A BEAUT OF A GOAL FROM FILIP CHYTIL!
— Rangers Videos (@SNYRangers) October 22, 2021
(via @RangersMSGN)pic.twitter.com/tQCNogOw3D
He also has blazing speed and can use it. Fans remember his breakaway goal in 2019 against the Bruins when he bowled over Tukka Rask.
On what could have been a historic night for Tuukka Rask he has to leave the game early due to this hit by Filip Chytil #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/SUvgGDAogc
— Boston Bruins on CLNS (@BruinsCLNS) January 20, 2019
Here he is using his defense and speed against the Capitals last season.
Takeaway
— Rangers Videos (@SNYRangers) March 30, 2021
Breakaway
Goal
Chytil
(via @RangersMSGN)pic.twitter.com/qirEyCcBWS
Unfortunately for the Rangers and Chytil, these goals are too rare.
It seemed to come to a head when he was benched for the first time this season, a healthy scratch in the Rangers’ game in Arizona. It was short lived as Artemi Panarin’s injury forced him back into the lineup the next game. Will he still be in the rotation when Panarin comes back?
Offensively, Chytil has regressed this season. He has scored only three goals and four assists this season, despite playing regularly as the center on the third line. Despite special attention, his work on faceoffs has not improved. In nearly all statistical category, he’s headed for the worst season of his career.
At 22 years old, he is not the kid anymore. This is his fifth year of professional hockey in North America. He’s has 212 NHL games under his belt. He’s played internationally at the World Championships. Here are the career numbers.
His shooting percentage this season is an abysmal 5.7%, better than only Julien Gauthier among Ranger forwards who have taken over 20 shots. It’s trending down from his career high of 12.3% two years ago.
It’s not like he doesn’t get shots. He has 74 unblocked shot attempts (iFF), fifth most on the team. But eight forwards have scored more goals than Chytil.
He’s not piling up the assists either with only two primary assists among his four total assists. At even strength since 2018 he has 21 primary assists in 177 games.
With numbers like those, maybe his future is not as a center.
Is he a winger?
While he is a natural center, many observers believe that he is best suited as a winger. His inability to improve at faceoffs makes him a liability on the dots and if he could get some shots on goal and reverse that slumping shooting percentage, he could be an answer to the Rangers’ lack of depth at wing.
He played both left and right wing against Vegas and didn’t do much, with only one shot on goal in 13 minutes of ice time. On the Vegas tying goal, he left Dylan Coghlan uncovered to walk in from the point for an unimpeded shot. Watching the video, you can see Chytil make a bad decision to go after the puck instead of staying with his man.
Dylan Coghlan ties it up in the 3rd! pic.twitter.com/QILFAAs1Bd
— AT&T SportsNet™ | RM West (@ATTSportsNetRMW) December 18, 2021
That kind of bad judgement drives coaches batty and leads to benchings.
To add insult to injury, it was Brett Howden who starred for Vegas with a goal and an assist. To the chagrin of Rangers fans, this season Howden is outscoring Chytil despite playing five fewer games and three fewer minutes per game. Howden is also winning over 50% of h is draws, compared to 41% for Chytil.
Statistics like that makes you wonder if the team gave up on the wrong young center in the offseason.
The real issue
Perhaps the biggest issue with Chtyil is the impact he is having on his linemates. Fielding three first round picks as a “kid line” sounds great, but if they are not scoring, it’s just hyperbole. Julien Gauthier plays hard, but cannot finish. Alexis Lafrenière has not unlocked the potential that made him the first overall pick, but at 20 years old, he still needs time. It certainly cannot help the Rangers’ crown jewel to be playing on a line with two other struggling young players.
Lafrenière has played 213 minutes with Chytil as his center this season. He has played 68 minutes with Mika Zibanejad and 21 minutes with Ryan Strome. It could be affecting him.
There are some options the Rangers could try.
What to do?
Against Vegas, the Rangers moved Barclay Goodrow to the third line and Chytil started on his left wing with Gauthier He soon found him self on the second line with Strome and Lafrenière.
According to Gerard Gallant, all he was looking for was for Chytil to “just play good hockey.” There’s no word on whether Gallant thought he did.
When Panarin returns, Goodrow should get some time with Lafrenière and Gauthier so that trio can have a chance to meld. That means they need to give Chytil an opportunity on the right wing with Strome and Panarin. If they don’t, he has to sit or move to the fourth line in favor of Dryden Hunt.
Chytil has played a little over a minute with Strome and Panarin this season. With games coming up against Montreal and Detroit, they have the luxury of moving him up with those two in order to see if he will respond. If he doesn’t, they have Chytil decision to make.
It’s awful when a young player who works so hard and cares so much doesn’t live up to his potential. Chytil has handled lineup moves and demotions to the minor leagues professionally and as a result, he has been given many opportunities.
He has been one of the better stories to come out of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, the 21st overall pick who quickly surpassed most of his peers from that draft. This season his progress has stalled and that is a big issue for a contending team that doesn’t have depth at forward.
The Rangers have a tough decision to make. Keep giving Chytil playing time and hope a lightbulb goes off or package him with a defense prospect and trade for a forward with better offensive upside or a center who can win faceoffs.
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