Rangers’ first-round pick Filip Chytil scores twice in development camp
Rangers' first-round pick in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft Filip Chytil at MSG Training Center in Greenburgh on June 26, 2017. Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
GREENBURGH — Not a bad opening act for Filip Chytil.
In the first scrimmage of development camp on Wednesday, the Rangers first-round pick (21st overall) at the NHL draft in Chicago last week scored twice in a 4-1 win for the White squad.
Chytil, 17, from the Czech Republic, centered a line with Ty Ronning on the right and Dawson Leedahl on the left. He scored on a shot past invitee Alexander Georgiev in the first 25-minute half, and then banked a quick wraparound at the right post off goalie Tyler Wall in the second.
“It was a fast game, I like that,” said Chytil, a 6-foot-2 lefty with some quality skating and stickhandling skills.
Where Chytil plays next season is to be determined. He may return to the Czech Extraliga, but Hartford is not an option.
Chytil, who has never been to New York, and his fellow prospects boarded a bus afterward for a tour of Madison Square Garden and dinner in Manhattan. At the draft, Chytil said being drafted in the first round by the Blueshirts “was a big surprise for me; I talked with them (the Rangers) at the combine, but I didn’t expect it.”
Ronning, who played for the Vancouver Giants of the WHL, also scored for the White team, backhanding in a puck in the crease. Joseph Snively, an invite from Yale, zipped a high shot off a breakaway past Tyler Wall.
Lias Andersson, the No. 7 overall pick in the draft, scored for the Blue team and delivered some solid hits. His line, with 6-foot-6 Tim Gettinger on the left and free-agent invite Pavel Poryadin on the right, had numerous chances, particularly in the first half against Adam Huska, the 2015 draftee who played for the University of Connecticut last season, who allowed just Andersson’s goal.
Notes & Quotes
Sean Day and Neil Pionk were paired on the White defense….Former Penn State defender Vince Pedrie had some good moments…The prospects all were given camp grey t-shirts with “Who’s Next” on the back…Another scrimmage is scheduled for Thursday at 10 a.m.
