Why ‘100 percent’ Filip Chytil is Rangers’ X-factor this season
On a team as good as the New York Rangers, there are so many important players who factor in to their success. Igor Shesterkin. Artemi Panarin. Adam Fox. Vincent Trocheck. Mika Zibanejad. Chris Kreider.
Ok you get the idea. And that’s just a partial list.
But it’s Filip Chytil who’s an intriguing X-factor for the Rangers this season. Especially after he told Vince Mercogliano of lohud.com Saturday that he’s “100 percent” this season after missing all but 10 regular-season games with an upper-body injury believed to be a concussion in 2023-24.
“I’m back. I’m 100% ready to work, be 100% myself, and I’m not scared of any contact, because I got a couple hits in the playoffs and I was okay,” Chytil explained.
Rangers general manager Chris Drury said as much Tuesday, offering that Chytil was a “full-go” at training camp and there’s “nothing holding him back.”
Coach Peter Laviolette echoed the same sentiment this week, when speaking about the 25-year-old, who’s suspected to have had three or four concussions in his career.
“He’s come back in very good shape. He looks excellent on the ice. There are no limitations with him whatsoever,” Laviolette said. “I actually think maybe the opposite. Maybe a little bit more is good right now to try and get back in and find the game and the game shape part of it, and the feel that goes with the game.”
Not only are the positive vibes buoyed by the fact that Chytil worked hard this summer without any health issues — he said his workouts began five days after the Rangers lost Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final to the Florida Panthers. But Chytil returned to the Rangers lineup six months after the initial injury and played six games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Those games, beginning with a Game 3 overtime win against the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round, didn’t showcase Chytil at his best. He failed to record a postseason point and said he was playing at roughly “10 percent” of his capability. But he played. Absorbed hits. Created contact. Skated hard. Competed. Got his feet wet.
And stayed healthy.
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Chytil may have been frustrated to be so far behind his teammates and opponents in those playoff games. But he had no doubt that he’d come out of it all ahealthy.
“I know where I was at,” Chytil said. “I’m telling you, from my point of view, I was okay. I knew I was going to be back and playing again.”
In his absence after he was injured Nov. 2 following a collision with Hurricanes forward Jesper Fast, the Rangers moved Trocheck up to center the line Chytil began the season with — alongside Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere. Jonny Brodzinski largely replaced Chytil in the lineup, centering the third line until Alex Wennberg arrived before the trade deadline.
The train kept speeding forward without Chytil. The Rangers set franchise records for wins (55) and points (114) and won the Presidents’ Trophy. But the lack of production from the bottom-six group of forwards was concerning. It certainly came back to bite the Rangers in the postseason, when Wennberg, Kaapo Kakko, Will Cuylle and Chytil combined for three goals in 16 playoff games.
That’s what makes Chytil’s healthy return in 2024-25 so important for the Blueshirts. Just two seasons ago he broke out with 22 goals and 45 points. That kind of production will make a massive difference in how teams defend the Rangers.
Having Zibanejad, Trocheck and Chytil down the middle can be a matchup nightmare for opponents. And a healthy Chytil could be a boon for Kakko, who was limited to 19 points (13 goals, six assists) in 61 games last season after producing NHL career highs in 2022-23 (18 goals, 40 points) as Chytil’s linemate.
Chytil said he has to “build everything from zero now.” But at least he’s in position to build. And the Rangers will be better off for it.
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