Filip Chytil has played in 27 games for the Canucks since being acquired in January of 2025.
As the Vancouver Canucks have slowly resumed returning to the ice, in the form of informal skates at Rogers Arena, the presence of one particular player has caught the eye of both media and fans alike.
After playing in only 12 games during the 2025–26 season, missing the rest of his time due to a variety of head and face-related injuries, Filip Chytil has returned to skating with the Canucks in a regular jersey — much unlike the non-contact jerseys he’d been spotted in towards the end of the previous season.
Chytil’s most recent injury, a facial fracture sustained at a practice at UBC during the Olympic break, cut his season short in mid-February. Towards the end of the year, he’d made a handful of appearances on the ice shortly after the conclusion of Vancouver’s regular practices, during which he’d engage in some casual skating.
Even so, once the 2025–26 season concluded, Chytil was “100% confident” that he would be ready for Vancouver’s training camp in September.
That benchmark is now only a couple of weeks away. Is he ready?
“I had off-season since February, so I had a lot of time to focus on certain things, and I think it went well off the ice and on the ice as well, and I’m ready for the season,” he said in a media availability after Vancouver’s informal skate on Wednesday.
It may feel like the same song and dance when it comes to Chytil — a healthy off-season, strong training camp and pre-season, and a rocket of a start in the regular season only for injuries to come knocking — but the forward admitted that approaching this season gave him different things both physically and mentally, as well as on and off-the-ice, to work on.
“It’s been a tough two years in a row for me, and yeah, I had to focus on some things,” he said. “I had so much time to focus on certain things off and on the ice. I think it was very productive for myself, and the people around me who I work with did a great job, and I can’t wait until the season starts.”
Oct 9, 2025; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks forward Filip Chytil (72) during a stop in play against the Calgary Flames in the second period at Rogers Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn ImagesSince being acquired from the New York Rangers in 2025, Chytil has yet to play in 20 games for the Canucks. Whereas his first go-around in Canucks training camp saw many penciling him in as Vancouver’s second-line center, since then, the team has made a crop of moves that could push the forward from the middle onto the wings instead. Elias Pettersson, Marco Rossi, and Aatu Räty are expected to take three of four spots, while players like Braeden Cootes, Ty Mueller, or even Riley Patterson could play their way into a role with a strong enough pre-season campaign.
Chytil still sees himself as a top-six player. Whether the organization does or not will be revealed come the beginning stages of the season.
“It’s not about myself. I’m not creating the lineup. It’s about coaches, and for me personally, I see myself [in the top-six]. But I didn’t play the whole season last year, and I’ve got to be honest to myself. I’ve got to be open-minded, and I’ve gotta go step-by-step, and we’ll see. I’ve gotta earn it back,” he said. “I missed 70 games last year, so it’s been a long time, and wherever coaches put me, I have to earn more ice time with every game.”
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