Center attention
Rangers GM envisions Chytil as middle man ... but on which line?
Chris Drury was able to provide an answer to one question concerning Filip Chytil’s status but not yet a more specific one during the general manager’s conference call on Thursday, one day in advance of the opening of the club’s development camp and two weeks before the varsity players report.
Chytil, who is entering his fifth pro season and fourth in the NHL despite having turned age 22 on Sept. 5, is going to line up at center rather than on the wing. But it is not clear whether incoming head coach Gerard Gallant will give No. 72 a shot at displacing Ryan Strome as the second-line center behind Mika Zibanejad or whether the staff perceives Chytil in the third-line role he has held most of the last two seasons.
“Obviously, the lineups are for Turk,” Drury said, referring to Gallant by his nickname. “But we’ve had discussions about [Chytil and Morgan Barron], and in my head, I see both of them as centers.
“Fil has played a lot of center and has continued to grow, and as we all know, he’s still only a young kid and still learning in a lot of different ways playing a tough position in the best league in the world. So for me, I’d like to give him every chance to be a center and keep evolving at that role.
“We all know how important that position is.”
Strome, who has been a very productive player for the Rangers the last two years while making beautiful music with Artemi Panarin on his left, is entering the season as a pending unrestricted free agent. It is unlikely the Blueshirts will be able to re-sign Strome — earning an AAV of $4.5 million on the final year of his current two-year deal — given the cap constraints they will confront starting next year.
So it would obviously be a boon to the club if Chytil, who is under contract for $2.3 million per each of the next two seasons, could nail down that spot in the top six. The Rangers might then be free to trade Strome without fretting about obtaining a replacement in the deal (or a corresponding one) or could shift No. 16 to the right side.
Chytil played 509:43 at five-onfive last year, spending more than half of that time between Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko on a Kid Line that never quite gained traction. Overall, the Czech recorded 22 points (8-14) in 42 games, missing a chunk of time early to a broken hand. During the rehab, Chytil contracted COVID-19. He recorded only one goal (with 10 assists) over his final 20 games.
It is not yet known whether Gallant intends to split up Panarin and Zibanejad, as former coach David Quinn did the last two years in successfully creating matchup conundrums for the opposition. Chytil and Panarin only hooked up for 32:46 of five-on-five play last season.
Chytil, a power skater who might evolve into a power center, is hardly a noted dispatcher in the middle. But Panarin does not require a classic playmaker by his side, as he operates stylistically as much as a center as a wing. Indeed, No. 10 led the team with 14 primary assists last season at five-on-five, while Pavel Buchnevich had 11, Zibanejad 10. Chytil, Strome and Adam Fox were next in line with 10 apiece, though Chytil collected his in 509:43 of time as opposed to Strome’s 752:22 and Fox’s 954:18 from the back end.
Gallant two weeks ago told The Post that “it wouldn’t shock me,” if one of the stable of top-end left wings featuring Panarin, Chris Kreider and Alexis Lafreniere shifts to the right in order to accommodate all three in the top-six.
If the Blueshirts construct a Panarin-Zibanejad-Lafreniere top line, they could take a look at a Kreider Chytil-Kaapo Kakko second unit. Per Natural StatTrick, the trio amassed only 41:37 as a line last year, showing well in the tiny sample size with a 60.3 Corsi rating, a 62.5 shot share, a 3-0 goals for/ against and a 65.37 xGF.
“That’s obviously a Turk question. It’s his lineup, but that’s why we have exhibition games and training camp,” Drury said. “You’re always hoping and wanting a young guy to take the next step.
“I wouldn’t see why he wouldn’t be able to do more as long as he’s ready to do it.”