Getty Filip Chytil of the New York Rangers skates against the Devils
When the Stanley Cup Playoffs come, expect the unexpected.
Take the New York Rangers, who welcomed back 24-year-old center Filip Chytil as the injured forward skated in a normal jersey, with the rest of his teammates on Friday, April 11.
Filip Chytil is back skating with the Rangers, and has been fully medically cleared.
His status for the playoffs remains unclear.
(via @vzmercogliano)
Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette spoke after practice on April 12 before facing the New York Islanders on an April 13 matinee at Madison Square Garden. Laviolette was asked about Chytil, and he discussed his status, per Rangers beat reporter Vince Mercogliano.
“He looks good out there. There’s no timetable on Fil. We’re not going to rush him back,” Laviolette told reporters on April 12, via Mercogliano. “Whenever he feels and the eyes on him feel and the powers that be feel that he’s in a good spot, that’s a different story.
Laviolette on Chytil:
“He looks good out there. There’s no timetable on Fil. We’re not going to rush him back. Whenever he feels and the eyes on him feel and the powers that be feel that he’s in a good spot, that’s a different story.”
Chytil has been out since he suffered a setback in January, followed by his placement on long-term injured reserve by the Rangers and the franchise ruling him out for the season.
April 12 marked the first time Chytil has skated with the team since Jan. 26. Following practice, Peter Baugh of The Athletic shared a promising outlook for Chytil and the Rangers heading into the playoffs.
“New York plans to take things slow, and there is no set plan for Chytil at the moment,” Baugh wrote. “But a playoff return is possible, which from the outside didn’t appear to be the case until this week.”
New York Rangers Expected to Prioritize Filip Chytil’s Health
The Rangers are expected to manage the situation and Chytil’s potential postseason return as carefully as possible. The forward is not expected to play in their two regular-season contests even if the Rangers had enough cap room to bring him back from LTIR.
Given today’s medical clearance and following the reports by Mercogliano and Baugh, a return during the playoffs, contingent on the Rangers advancing throughout them, could be possible.
Because New York doesn’t have enough cap space ($955k according to PuckPedia) to fit his yearly salary, Chytil cannot be activated before the playoffs.
However, with no salary cap applied during the postseason, the Rangers wouldn’t have any problem activating and adding Chytil to their active roster once the regular season ends next week.
Chytil is in the first season of a four-year, $17.75MM deal with a $4.44MM cap hit signed in March 2023. Chytil was coming off posting career-highs in every offensive category last season, recording 22 goals, 23 assists, and 45 points with a +15 rating in 74 games.
Filip Chytil Has Spent His Whole Career in New York
The Rangers drafted Chytil with the No. 21 pick of the 2017 NHL draft. Since then, he has struggled to stay healthy and he’s never appeared in all 82 games of any of the seasons that followed his entrance into the NHL circuit.
“It has been the hardest three months of my life and has not been easy for my family, closest people and of course for [the] whole NY Rangers organization,” Chytil wrote on Instagram on January 28, following the announcement of the Rangers ruling him out for the season. “But we gotta stay positive even in these tough moments and just think What is ahead of us! Thanks to you all for nice messages! I’ll come back stronger than ever!”
Chytil topped at 74 games played last season, however, when he posted career-high numbers across multiple statistical categories. Chytil scored 22 goals and logged 23 assists for 45 total points and a 15 plus/minus on his 14:41 time on ice.
The center could only get 6 assists and no goals in his 10 games played this season for New York before being shut out for the remainder of the season in late January. He was logging a career-high 15:56 time on ice early in the year before getting placed on LTIR.