Player Discussion Filip Chytil: Part II (Chytil to miss rest of 2023-24 Season)

[Fvital92]

I love Chytil, but Zibanejad is our better overall skater. I don't think Chytil is close to that level right now.

 

[romba]

I love Chytil, but Zibanejad is our better overall skater. I don't think Chytil is close to that level right now.

Zbad is apparently a severely underrated skater. I've never seen any Ranger take a pass at Center ice with the opposition Dmen in perfect gap placement and do what Zbad does. At will Zbad turns on the jets, flicks the puck to a spot where only he can retrieve the puck first, while also remaining fully under control even as the Dmen try to rub him out and cancel him, and still is in a position to then generate a top notch scoring high danger chance (talking breakway/2 on 1 here) either for himself or a teamate. CK, as fast as he is, needs to be caught full stride with a perfect pass and even then barely makes it past the defender who are generally prepared for him. Zbad creates it for himself with his agility, deceptiveness, puck handling and speed. It's beautiful. Panarin actually prefers the dmen in front of him and sometimes even allows them to catch up and get past him to give a false sense of confidence so he can then head fake and juke them out of their shorts and find the open man without fail.

Chytil is as smooth as Zbad in agility and puck control, but he doesn't have that top end burst yet nor the balance to be able to get nudged by a defender at full speed yet still keep full balance and puck control. That's a severely underrated skill that the elite of elite posses.

 

[will1066]

I love Chytil, but Zibanejad is our better overall skater. I don't think Chytil is close to that level right now.

When Chytil fully matures, he will be more powerful than Zibanejad.

 

[darko]

If I recall correctly Ziba's skating was somewhat of a concern as he was transitioning to NHL.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

When Chytil fully matures, he will be more powerful than Zibanejad.

If...

 

[ThirdEye]

The tools are all there... Up to Chytil to take the next step. Players drafted outside the top 10 usually don't figure things out until the fourth or fifth season, so if he keeps working on his weaknesses he should come into his own next season.

 

[romba]

If I recall correctly Ziba's skating was somewhat of a concern as he was transitioning to NHL.

Maybe.

FromNHL Central Scouting in 2011:
“Mika’s a real power forward but also has soft hands, good vision and fine skating skills,” NHL Director of European Scouting Goran Stubb told NHL.com. “He has tremendous balance and is hard to knock off the puck. He’s very strong in the battles along the boards, finishes checks with authority and has a heavy shot that he gets off quickly.”

From thehockeywriters.com


Pros

• Straight-away speed
• Soft Hands
• Heavy Shot
• Plays Physical Hockey
• Intangibles
• Good passing
• Leader – Passionate Player
• Responsible Backcheck

Flaws/Aspects He Needs To Work On:

• Inability to be elusive
• First Step Quickness
• Discipline

I have to say, he's really cleaned up his weaknesses which makes sense considering he's now a star 1st liner.

 

[Fvital92]

Maybe.

FromNHL Central Scouting in 2011:
“Mika’s a real power forward but also has soft hands, good vision and fine skating skills,” NHL Director of European Scouting Goran Stubb told NHL.com. “He has tremendous balance and is hard to knock off the puck. He’s very strong in the battles along the boards, finishes checks with authority and has a heavy shot that he gets off quickly.”

From thehockeywriters.com


Pros

• 
  
  
  • Straight-away speed
  • Soft Hands
  • Heavy Shot
  • Plays Physical Hockey
  • Intangibles
  • Good passing
  • Leader – Passionate Player
  • Responsible Backcheck

Flaws/Aspects He Needs To Work On:

• 
  
  
  • Inability to be elusive
  • First Step Quickness
  • Discipline

I have to say, he's really cleaned up his weaknesses which makes sense considering he's now a star 1st liner.

This description could be Chytil's right now. Good sign for us.

 

[Ainec]

looked like Malkin there

 

[Kovalev27]

Chytil is a better skater at 20 than Zibanejad was. No doubt about it

 

[bl02]

Best part of today was seeing him be ok after that crash into boards

 

[duhmetreE]

Its fun watching him fly through the neutral zone...

He still needs to add to his bag of tricks... Like Zibs he doesn't have much... He's great at going wide and utilizing his speed but he stands to gain a lot with more puck skill.

 

[Filthy Dangles]

Love when he goes that low in the zone on Center Swings. He just glides until it’s time to turn on the jets. His crossover acceleration is elite.

That should be a set play when he’s on the ice, by the way. Worked to perfection, our good old friend Michael Del Zotto pinched on the stretch pass and was out of the play leaving Chytil 1on1 with a forward.

 

[duhmetreE]

Love when he goes that low in the zone on Center Swings. He just glides until it’s time to turn on the jets. His crossover acceleration is elite.

That should be a set play when he’s on the ice, by the way. Worked to perfection, our good old friend Michael Del Zotto pinched on the stretch pass and was out of the play leaving Chytil 1on1 with a forward.

Its funny/weird that he exhibits soft hands on these rushes but you rarely see it outside of that.

Its as if his 'soft hands mode' gets activated at top speed... like a spoiler on a sports car

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Beautiful goal. His shot is underrated, and he’s a real good skater. Needs to develop more playmaking ability but he’s only 20, he has time to develop.

 

[duhmetreE]

Beautiful goal. His shot is underrated, and he’s a real good skater. Needs to develop more playmaking ability but he’s only 20, he has time to develop.

I'd ask Mr. Panarin for his routine.

It's not a secret... any elite puck-handler goes hard on the drills, on and off the ice.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

Beautiful goal. His shot is underrated, and he’s a real good skater. Needs to develop more playmaking ability but he’s only 20, he has time to develop.

He has years to develop. I still remember seeing him and Andersson that first preseason after they were drafted.

My initial reaction to Andersson was to be look for reasons to be hopeful: "you can see the fire, tenacity, competitiveness, etc."

Whereas my initial reaction to Chytil was to say, "holy f***, I see flashes of Mario Lemieux."

 

[will1066]

Is he ok?

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

Is he ok?

He had at least one shift, and I'm pretty sure two, after the injury. But they'll probably keep both him and Kakko out for tomorrow night just to be safe prior to the Christmas break. Give 'em both a bunch of days off to rest and recuperate.

 

[Irishguy42]

What a steal at 7OA in that 2017 draft. Unbelievable.

And people thought we should take Mittelstadt over him? Puh-lease.

Bravo, Gordie Clark.

 

[will1066]

Best part of today was seeing him be ok after that crash into boards

The best part of waking up is Chytil getting up

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Is he ok?

Yea

 

[Whoot Whoot]

Happy it’s working out for this guy / he’s very like able

 

[brakeyawself]

I still think he needs regular top 6 shifts instead of just playing 3rd or 4th line C.Almost think he’d still be better of playing top line C minutes in the AHL if they don’t want to have him play winger for now. Although it seems as if he’s been mostly playing wing next to Howden anyway.

Still a work in progress. But I have little doubt he could end up at least as good as Zibanijad. While he won’t have the physical game of Ziban, I think he may actually turn out better offensively, hard as that may be to beleive.

Since the Rangers likely aren’t winning anything this season, I’d much rather see Chytil and Kakko in the top 6 rather than Buchnevic and Fast. I’m kind of hoping they trade Buchnevic at some point this season or next. Not sure how popular that opinion will be with other Ranger fans. But I just don’t think Buch is going to be as good as some have suggested. Think we can cash in on him now before he loses hype.

But I’d really prefer seeing a Chytil and Kakko paired with Strome, or Kakko on the Ziban line and Chytil playing with a Strome and Panarin. Really any version of Kreider, Panarin, Kakko and Chytil as our top 6 wingers would be ideal IMO. I just think he’d fit best with Strome so that they can share some of the Center responsibilities. This way he can work on his game at Center, face offs etc.. while also contributing and improving offensively. But with Strome he could rotate as to not put all the 2nd line center duties on Chytil. And Strome can play on the wing also, so I think that could really work.

As much as I like Howden, who is probably an ideal 3C, he’s not the kind of player that I think will really help Kakko and Chytil to improve. Howden with Fast and Lemmi on his Wings seems a more ideal 3rd line to me at least. Or maybe even with Buch if we do end up keeping him.

Rangers really don’t need 4 solid lines right now if we aren’t competing for a Cup. I’d think helping our future studs along and giving them top 6 experience would be better for their development, which I’d think would be Rangers priority this season.

Next season could very well be Lundqvists last, or at least his last with the Rangers. If we gave Chytil and Kakko that experience this season, perhaps the team would be ready to make one more run at it with Lundqvist still in net. And he could then mentor Shesterkin in his final season with us.

The way players are being used this season, I can’t see us being ready to contend next year without these guys getting the experience. They’ll have a steeper learning curve next season instead.
I’m not sure there is much point to Hank sticking around another season otherwise. Think we would be better off moving him to a contender this year if that’s the case. Give him a couple chances to win a cup. As sad as it would be to see Hank leave for another team, I’d be quite happy for him to win a cup anywhere before he retires. And I think going that route would then ultimately be better for our younger players.
As it stands, I’m not quite sure what Rangers plans are. Seem to be in a weird limbo where we aren’t really contending but also not wholly rebuilding. Guess I’m not big on a half assed, undecided approach. Would rather they make a choice and stick to it. Would be better for the team as a whole. And I think Georgiev has been good enough to carry the GK weight until Shesterkinis ready to take over.

 

[brakeyawself]

I love Chytil, but Zibanejad is our better overall skater. I don't think Chytil is close to that level right now.

I don’t think it’s his skating specifically that is far behind. IN fact I think his skating is relatively close, better than Ziban was at his age. I see plenty of burst, agility and top end speed. I think the biggest difference is physical maturity and strength. It’s hard to stay on your skates when you can get easily pushed around. It’s difficult to maneuver on your skates when you’re consciously trying to avoid contact and can’t depend on your upper body strength.

While I’m sure there are some aspects of his skating he could improve upon, I don’t think the skating is holding him back much. But I definitely think strength, conditioning and physical maturity might be. Skating is one of the least of my worries with Chytil. And I certainly think he has more than enough speed and acceleration to get him where he needs to go.

I’d like to see him work on his playmaking, his 200ft game/defense and his shooting. And I guess his face offs and all variety of checking. I think his goal scoring skills are very high, but I think his shot specifically could use some work. Especially regarding power and twitch. And while he seems to have a high hockey IQ, I think his vision, as an aspect of playmaking, could also use some focus to improve. A lot of that might be in part learning to play more with his head up and eyes on his teammate s and opponents rather than on the ice, the puck and his stick. I think that might be his biggest weakness actually.