Rangers face delicate decisions paramount to Filip Chytil’s future
The clouds of uncertainty that have consistently hovered over Filip Chytil are now grayer than the Seattle sky the Rangers flew through on Saturday.
And no, the Czech center was not aboard as he went through further evaluation in New York for the upper-body injury he sustained last game in a collision with K’Andre Miller along the half wall.
A year and 15 days after going down 10 games into last season with what was believed at the time to be his fourth concussion, here are Chytil and the Rangers once again, back in the gray area.
For the coaching staff, his teammates and everyone else who had a front-row seat to Chytil’s struggles on the road to recovery last season, watching him land back in the same place so soon twists the stomach even more.
“It definitely does,” Ryan Lindgren told The Post after practice Saturday in Tarrytown. “Dealing with that is tough. You just hope for the best for him. He’s a guy that we love. He’s a huge part of our team.”
There is a chance Chytil joins the Rangers at some point on the road trip, according to a source, but it feels like a long shot unless the 25-year-old is ready to play.
This early into the season, putting Chytil on a plane after such an injury — and given his history — would be unnecessary.
Expect the Rangers to be ultra intentional with how they handle Chytil going forward.
The longer this saga with his health continues, the more emphasis there has to be on Chytil the person rather than Chytil the player.
“We’re always careful with our players,” head coach Peter Laviolette said when asked about the club having to proceed with caution. “Nobody jumps back without doctors and everybody doing their job.”
The sooner the Rangers can lock in a definitive course of action regarding Chytil, the better, lest we forget what last season’s playoff run was like.
Despite going 6-0 to start the postseason, Laviolette reinserted Chytil into the lineup.
The Rangers may have won that Game 3 over Carolina in overtime, but that was also right around when the cracks in the team’s game started to show.
Chytil was unable to get back onto the ice the very next day. He missed the next three games.
From there and for the remainder of the playoffs, it was a constant thing to monitor.
The Rangers clearly thought they needed him to win — and maybe they did — but it was disruptive.
Chytil was only able to play in five of the final nine games.
Having their third-line center’s status up in the air nearly every day was not conducive to a stable environment.
The Rangers shouldn’t go back down that road again.
It didn’t help them then, it won’t help them now.
Jonny Brodzinski slotted into Chytil’s usual spot on the third unit between Will Cuylle and Kaapo Kakko during practice on Saturday.
The veteran forward skated with the two youngsters in 13 games last season.
That’ll be the short-term plan without Chytil, but the long-term one — if necessary — is still hazy.
“He goes in there and he gives us good minutes,” Laviolette said of Brodzinski. “He’s fast, he’s competitive, and I think that spot is actually a good fit for him. He’s played there before. He’s done that. I think he’s real comfortable there now.”
