Chytil Flashing Speed, Puck Strength Through First Nine Games With Canucks

With the Vancouver Canucks in freefall since the 4 Nations Break, Quinn Hughes day-to-day with an injury and potential player movement, there's cause to be pessimistic about the organization's playoff odds. 

The 2024-25 NHL Season hasn't been kind to Canucks fans. Especially in January, which was ripe with rumours of internal turmoil capped off with Vancouver shipping off recent 100-point scorer J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers on the last day of the month. 

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The return featured a protected first-round pick — quickly sent to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor— and Filip Chytil, a 25-year-old forward and former first-round pick. 

Looking ahead, the following days could feature the likes of Suter, Brock Boeser, and other pending free agents donning different sweaters come March 8. However, a constant in Vancouver's lineup for the next 22 games will be the presence of Chytil.

Chytil's Time as a Canuck

Three words best summarize the skillset Chytil is best known for in Vancouver: controlled zone entries. 

He leads the NHL in controlled zone entry percentage since joining the Canucks among players with a minimum of eight games played. A factor driving his excellence in this category is his speed. According to NHL Edge, Chytil ranks among the 90th percentile of NHL skaters for Top Skating Speed and in the 95th percentile for Speed Bursts Over 32 kph. 

"He's got a lot of speed and holds onto the puck well," Suter said of what Chytil brings to the Canucks. "He gets those zone entries and gets some possession time out of it. That's really where things happen." 

Offensively, Chytil notched two goals and six points through nine games so far with Vancouver and is flashing his speed, puck control and allusiveness while doing so. He's averaging over 18 minutes of ice time with the Canucks as well — that's up over two minutes from his previous career-high average with the Rangers. 

Defensively, Chytil's five takeaways through nine games are one shy of his total with the Rangers through 41 games in New York. His faceoff percentage, while over two points below 50%, would mark a career-high when looking only at his percentages in Vancouver. 

Additionally, Rick Tocchet's willingness to send Chytil out to defend a lead in the dying minutes of a match — like he did against the Colorado Avalanche last month — indicates Chytil has his head coach's trust. 

For Tocchet, there are aspects of Chytil's game he feels his lineup needs.

"He's obviously a really talented guy," Tocchet said. "There's a lot to work with. There are some parts of his game we're gonna work on, but I think for the rush game, holding on to pucks, we need that type of play in our lineup, and he supplies that for us." 

When trading a player of Miller's calibre, it's hard to reasonably expect to receive a player in a similar echelon in return. While Chytil is far from a top-line centre at this time, he’s rounding out into a second-line, play-driving centre behind Elias Pettersson. 

Even if Vancouver's playoff hopes go belly up, the Canucks have a good, young one-two punch down the middle for years to come. Of course, assuming Pettersson returns to his usual.

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