A beast number 2? I am hoping he turns into a good player. It seems I am a minority on this Board but after 4 years I see someone who is inconsistent, not a great skater. not good in the defensive zone and a center who looks to shoot first and not good at setting up his line mates. Putting all that aside You could argue that maybe he can improve in some of those areas but IMO his lack of instincts and bad decisions on the ice are a red flag. After 4 years I would have expected better. I mean to me LaF and KK compared to Chytl are way ahead with the instincts and ice vision. Nothing to sneeze at.
You can say he is inconsistent, that's accurate but fits pretty much every young player who didn't go to college 3 years. You can say he doesn' tpass enough, that his defense is mediocre (an argument that can be made for all of our centers) but not a great skater? Whaaaaat? Are you talking about the same Filip Chytil? Skating, size and his hands are all well above average. He is often a force.
I would argue what Filip Chytil needs... is to be GIVEN some consistency. He needs regular linemates. He needs regular minutes. He needs to stay healthy. (the injury and then coming back with a wrist that was not fully healed really hurt his season because he was our best center to start the season by a mile.)
At worst, Filip Chytil will be a bottom 6 center or a top 9 winger. He hasn't even fully grown into his frame yet. But was much stronger this year than last. And he's only going to get stronger.
Unlike some of our other young players, he's already proven to have a fairly high floor -- he's already better than: Howden, Gauthier, Barron (who is OLDER). He's better than Rooney and Blackwell. And right at this moment, he's more consistent and more impactful shift by shift than Laf and Kakko. That's not to say some of those guys won't surpass him. That actually better happen. But this idea that a 21 year old center is supposed to have put it all together already is very unfair.
Lastly, it's really important to note that at 21, Chytil had almost exactly the same scoring pace as our best center prospect in the last 12 years -- Derek Stepan. Step was our #1 C during our last contention window. AND in Step's 21 year old season - he also had 10 points on the power play. Chytil barely had any PP time at all, only averaged 13 min a game. Never had consistent linemates. And finally, Chytil had a BETTER face off percentage at the same age as Step.
Lastly, FWIW, Chytil was a +9 this year. A marked improvement from his first two seasons.
Chytil has shown improvement every year. His overall game has gotten better. And finally, I'm excited to see what he looks like under Gallant.
