TEEN STANCE
Chytil makes Rangers, Andersson sent to Sweden
Welcome to the show, kid. At the very least, the Rangers are allowing Filip Chytil the chance to see if he can hang with the big boys, keeping the first-round pick (No. 21 overall) with the team after the cuts came Thursday to bring the Blueshirts close to their opening-night roster.
Chytil, who turned 18 years old this month, can play nine games before the first year of his entrylevel contract kicks in — and it seems like his career will be starting with him as a center between Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello.
“He’s earned the right to start this season with us,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “He’s played well. Shown a real good skill set. It’s day by day. Now, it really starts. It’ll be a real NHL lineup with all the players. So far he’s handled it well. Can he handle it moving forward? His play will tell us that.”
In the same breath, the team sent Lias Andersson, their other first-round pick this year taken No. 7 overall, back to his native Sweden to play big minutes for his club team Frolunda. Set to turn 19 years old Oct. 13, Andersson showed flashes of his twoway game this preseason, but the franchise didn’t want to stunt his growth by marginalizing his playing time in the NHL. It also didn’t help that he suffered a minor foot injury that kept him out the previous few days.
“I think it’s a decision we made when we looked at the roster and where he fit in on the roster right now,” general manager Jeff Gorton said. “He needs to go play — go play in the top six on his club team and go back to Frolunda, play power play, play penalty kill. And right now, just didn’t see that happening here.”
Unlike with junior teams, it is easier for the Rangers to bring Andersson back to the NHL if they need him during the season. But as of right now, that’s not their intention.
“Our plan right now is to send him back to play there [all season],” Gorton said. “Things change. But I think at 18, he needs to go play and not think about the Rangers right now. Just think about getting his ice time, and World Junior, and all those different kind of things. That’s our focus.”
Yet the focus here will at least partially be on Chytil, whose offensive brilliance is what separated him from his first-round brethren. Weeks before training camp, Chytil came over from his native Czech Republic and has been getting acclimated. His handle on the English language is still a work in progress, and sometimes he needs a fellow Czech, veteran backup goalie Ondrej Pavelec, to translate. But for one, Pavelec sees a maturity that could belie Chytil’s youth.
“He’s going to learn more and more every day,” Pavelec said. “He’s a quiet kid. I think he knows where he wants to go, where he wants to be. He’s doing everything to get there. It’s good for him.”
For all of Chytil’s offensive skill, he has also shown some lapses in his own zone — which can be expected for such a young player in such a tough and structured league.
“When you’re 18 years old and you’re playing down low and in your own zone, it can be a little stressful,” Gorton said. “We’ll be watching that closely. Right now he’s got two guys who are pretty experienced and can help him.”
After practice Thursday, Chytil had yet to reach out to his family back home to let them know he made the team. But his elation was pretty clear.
“I’m really glad I’m here,” he said. “It’s really exciting.”
With the preseason schedule over a short team-bonding trip up to Lake Placid set for early next week, the roster is pretty well set for opening night Thursday against the Avalanche at the Garden. Chytil is part of it, and maybe his feelings could be best described by Pavelec.
“For right now, for him,” Pavelec said, “it’s heaven.”