The New York Rangers have suffered a big loss. Forward Filip Chytil has been ruled out for 4-6 weeks due to injury. The 21-year-old was off to a strong start but will miss much of the rest of the season. The team announced the news Tuesday morning.
Filip Chytil will be out 4 to 6 weeks due to an upper body injury suffered on Sunday at Pittsburgh.
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) January 26, 2021
Rangers Lose Filip Chytil
The Rangers have not been as good as expected, but Chytil was doing well in the early stages of the season. He has two goals and three points through the team’s first five games. His Corsi For was a blistering 62.6 percent with an astounding 12.9 relative Corsi. This was shaping up to be a fantastic breakout season for the young Czech, but that is paused at the moment.
The Rangers originally drafted Chytil in the first round of the 2017 Draft and he has been skating at the NHL level most of the time since that selection. His debut season in 2017-18 featured one goal and two points in nine games. He then contributed at least 11 goals and 23 points in each of the past two seasons. It would be hard to set a new career-high in scoring in only 56 games, but Chytil was already collecting .60 points per game. That is a huge increase from the previous high of .38 in 2019-20. Maintaining that rate would have resulted in roughly 33 points over that number of contests.
How the Rangers Replace Chytil
One possible replacement is Brett Howden. The 22-year-old was also a bottom-six contributor, but likely moves into Chytil’s role as the third line’s centre. Howden doesn’t have Chytil’s scoring ability, but he is a more physical player and can win faceoffs at a higher rate. Howden is the team’s first-round selection from 2016, so he also has a notable pedigree to try and fulfill.
This absence only places more burden on some of the team’s underperforming stars. Veterans Ryan Strome and Chris Kreider have been almost nonexistent on the score sheet through five games. New York is also in the last place in the reformatted East Division. They will need someone to step up with Chytil going down.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
