Rangers coach Peter Laviolette says injured Filip Chytil is making slow progress
New York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck (16) scores past Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023, in Tampa, Fla. Credit: AP Photo/Chris O'Meara
TAMPA, Fla. — Filip Chytil is progressing slowly, Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said Saturday. Laviolette could not say for certain whether the 24-year-old center, who is believed to be dealing with the lingering effects of a concussion, will be able to return to the team this season.
“I think we’re hopeful that he will be back,’’ Laviolette said at Amalie Arena, where the Rangers took on the Tampa Bay Lightning in their final game of 2023. “Just, where things were at here, we’re just trying a different approach, a different avenue.’’
The Rangers agreed to let Chytil — who has not played since suffering what the team continues to call an upper-body injury against Carolina on Nov. 2 — return to his home in Czechia to be treated by his local physicians for an indefinite period. Chytil and the team hope a change of scenery will be good for his recovery.
Chytil will be in constant contact with the organization, and a person familiar with the decision to let him go home said Friday that his return to the team will be evaluated on a week-to-week basis.
Though the Rangers’ policy on reporting injuries is to identify them only as upper body or lower body, it is believed that Chytil has had more than a few concussions in his career. He is thought to have had two last season and might have had one during this year’s preseason. He played the first preseason game, then left practice the next day and missed the rest of the preseason before returning for the regular season.
He played 10 games, centering the second line between Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere, and got off to a good start with six assists (though no goals). Then he inadvertently collided with former Rangers teammate Jesper Fast late in the first period on Nov. 2. He continued to play after the collision but left in the second period and did not return. He missed his 25th game Saturday.
He began skating on his own sometime in mid-November but never has progressed to the point that he could skate with the team, even on a non-contact basis.
Laviolette had no further update on Chytil’s former Kid Line linemate, Kaapo Kakko, who missed his 15th game Saturday with a lower-body injury. Kakko continues to skate on his own, Laviolette said.
n Lafreniere’s progress
Friday was the anniversary of Lafreniere being a healthy scratch for a game in Tampa under then-coach Gerard Gallant. Lafreniere has played in each game this season and entered Saturday with 10 goals and 10 assists in 34 games.
“From the start of the season, it’s been all positive,’’ Laviolette said. “So that’s all I know. He works hard, he’s really playing with confidence and he’s a contributing factor on the line [with Panarin and Vincent Trocheck]. They generate a lot of chances.’’
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
