The Canucks will be tested at center while Filip Chytil is injured, but figuring it out internally instead of rushing to acquire someone else could pay off by the trade deadline.
The injury bug bit the Vancouver Canucks again.
Center Filip Chytil went on the injured reserve with an upper-body injury earlier this week. He left Sunday's game after Washington Capitals right winger Tom Wilson hit him in open ice.
Chytil's history of concussions makes this injury particularly concerning. First and foremost, he needs to look after himself, and the team will support him as well. And after the team dealt with injuries to Chytil, Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, Thatcher Demko and more players last year, it's discouraging to see injuries strike again early.
With Chytil out of action for at least the rest of the week and likely longer, the Canucks’ depth at center will be tested more than it already is.
Elias Pettersson, Aatu Raty, Max Sasson and Nils Aman are not quite a Murderer’s Row of pivots. Of those four, only Pettersson got on the scoresheet in Tuesday's ugly 5-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Only Raty has a faceoff win percentage of more than 50 percent in that bunch, at 55.2 percent.
So when you take into account recent comments from Vancouver GM Patrik Allvin, you could be forgiven for thinking the Canucks are going to make a trade to replace Chytil until he’s healthy again.
“The first job is to find a way to get through the next game,” Allvin told Sportsnet. “Depth-wise, I think we’re good at the bottom of the lineup. It’s more how you get the skill guy for the top six that is the challenge. There’s always been an urgency (to add that player) and that’s been something we looked into all summer.
“I would say this probably makes me look at other things I might not have looked at before. Just take a different view. My job is to look at the options, short-term and long-term and what makes sense for us.”
That said, we’re not sure Allvin has to rush into replacing Chytil.
Vancouver currently has $2 million in salary cap space, a total that limits the caliber of veteran they can acquire. It would’ve made sense for the Canucks to be in on veteran Jack Roslovic before he signed with the Edmonton Oilers, but they didn’t need him at that point, and that ship has since sailed.
Meanwhile, if the Canucks simply hold onto their current cap space and let it accrue all year, by next March's NHL trade deadline, they’ll have $19.4 million to spend, according to PuckPedia. That’s more than enough space to acquire a difference-maker or two.
Holding off on a trade and trying instead to build internally on their 4-3-0 is a much sounder plan for the present and future, even if paying big-time for an upgrade at center to push for a playoff spot is tempting.
Vancouver Canucks Depth Will Be Tested With Recent Injuries To Blueger, Chytil & Lekkerimäki
The injury bug has hit the Vancouver Canucks hard.
After missing the Stanley Cup playoffs last season, expectations on the Canucks may have been unjustly reduced. This is why we took a flyer on Vancouver as a playoff team in our Pacific Division pre-season prediction, and it’s also why we believe the Canucks can weather the storm with Chytil on the sidelines and still be in a playoff position until he returns.
Vancouver isn’t a perfect team by any metric, but there are enough veterans in their dressing room to keep them competitive until they’re fully healthy again. They pulled off the win on Sunday against Washington despite Chytil's exit, and Conor Garland leads the way with seven points in seven games. Demko's 2.28 goals-against average and .922 save percentage are very promising.
The Canucks need to tread water for the next stretch of time, because if they do, their talent situation could look significantly better when the games matter most.
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