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It’s bad.
Maybe even worse than you feared.
The official word from Rangers is that Filip Chytil, the third-row center who was on the verge of making a breakthrough at the start of the season, will be sidelined for four to six weeks with what’s called “an injury to the upper body, ”which he suffered in a collision on free ice in the second period with Evan Rodrigues in Pittsburgh on Sunday night.
It appeared that Chtyil suffered an injury to his left hand or wrist while being treated on the bench by medical coach Jim Ramsay following the incident at 9:11 am of the second period in which the two players also appeared to kneel down. -knee. Rodrigues will be sidelined indefinitely with what the Penguins call a “lower body injury”.
As if the 1-3-1 start didn’t create enough adversity within two weeks of the start of the season, it surely adds to the challenge the Rangers face.
Chytil, 21, who scored two goals and an assist in skating between Philip DiGiuseppe and Kaapo Kakko on what had become a stable and reliable third row, will miss his first game on Tuesday in Buffalo against the Sabers.
The Blueshirts will initially try to plug the hole by moving Brett Howden to the third row, returning to a role he held for the first half of last season before moving to the wing the rest of the year. Rangers coach David Quinn said on Monday he was considering a number of changes to the squad’s line combinations, so it’s not clear who Howden will have on the wing as the Blueshirts try to dig their own hole at the start of the season.
Howden had played reasonably well on the fourth row of the first five games while averaging 13:17 of ice time per, including 1:12 on the power play and 1:56 on the penalty spot. Indeed, Howden’s faceoff point ability had elevated him above Chytil for the assignment with the man advantage, with the No.72 scoring just 0:37 per, but the coach had said it would only be a temporary situation.
It hurts the Rangers where they can probably least afford it. The organizational depth at the center of the whole organization is lacking. Fourth-row guys Kevin Rooney and Colin Blackwell provide reinforcements for Howden at the NHL level while Morgan Barron and Justin Richards skate at Hartford training camp in the AHL which officially started on Monday.
At the moment, it doesn’t look like the Rangers are promoting 22-year-old Barron to the taxi team, even though the Wolf Pack season doesn’t start until February 7. The team has two pre-season games coming up. Sunday and Monday, maybe the situation will change after that.
Richards, 22, who the Blueshirts signed in the offseason as an undrafted free agent from Minnesota-Duluth, has missed the entire NHL camp due to COVID-19 issues. However, he is currently working and could also become a candidate for the taxi team, where there are two vacancies.
If this injury comes at an inopportune time for the Rangers, then likely double for Chytil, who was beginning to combine his physical and skill attributes into a towering package. The 21st overall pick in the 2017 Draft, 21, recorded three points (2-1) with a 63.81 Corsi score (among players with at least 20 minutes of five-on-five ice time) and an expected goal rate of 67.96.
In addition, the Chytil-Kakko partnership flourished, each of the young guns gaining confidence in themselves as individuals while generating chemistry in tandem. It puts an obvious hold on it.
And furthermore, the Rangers for the next four to six weeks will lose the opportunity to place Chytil in the top six on the line with Artemi Panarin. Management needs to know their long-term plan for this location, with Ryan Strome likely not being the long-term answer. If Chtyil is able to handle the mission, it would eliminate the need for the team to trade for a top six pivot which would likely be expensive.
That opportunity is lost for a stretch that could encompass up to 20 games, or more than a third of the 56-game season.
Difficult break for the Rangers.
Equally difficult break for Chytil.
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