The Filip Chytil Saga has been draining for everyone.
There has been concern for his well-being in the aftermath of the suspected concussion he sustained on Nov. 2 from which the 24-year-old Rangers center has had a challenging recovery.
After weeks of rehab in New York during which he skated on his own at the practice facility, Chytil returned home to Czechia so he could be surrounded by a more extensive support system of family and friends during his rehab.
For the most part, a cone of silence has surrounded Chytil’s status. This coming Thursday, it will be 11 weeks to the day since No. 72 suffered the injury while bouncing off of Carolina’s Jesper Fast in a mid-ice collision in which his head was never a point of contact.
But Monday, there seemed to be encouraging news coming out of Czechia as Chytil posted a picture on his Instagram account of him being on the ice working with his personal coach Radek Duda and some old guy by the name of Jaromir Jagr.
Perhaps the light at the end of the tunnel is not an onrushing train, after all.
Numbers can be deceiving
Adding Blake Wheeler to the Mika Zibanejad-Chris Kreider connection never quite seemed to work, did it? The three veterans — ages 32, 30, 37 from left to right on the ice — never quite looked like they were in sync, did they?
Interestingly, though, underlying numbers tell a somewhat different story.
Of the eight right wings with whom the BFFs have played for at least 45 minutes since the start of the 2021-22 season, the line with Wheeler scores at the second-highest rate, behind only the unit that has featured Artemi Panarin for a string of cameo appearances.
When Panarin is with Zibanejad and Kreider — as he has been intermittently on those increasing occasions on which No. 10 is double-shifted by head coach Peter Laviolette — the line has scored at a rate of 4.5 goals per 60:00. With Wheeler, the unit has scored at a rate of 3.68 goals per 60.
And do you know which line combination has produced at the second-lowest rate among qualifying triumvirates?
That would be the unit including once-and-present member Kaapo Kakko, with whom the line scores 2.05 goals per 60.
Here are a couple stats general manager Chris Drury might want to keep in mind as the March 8 trade deadline approaches with one-time rentals Frank Vatrano and Vlad Tarasenko both expected to be available again this time around:
• The line including Vatrano after the Blueshirts had acquired him ahead of the 2022 deadline scored at a pace of 3.54 goals per 60. That would rank third behind lines with Panarin and Wheeler.
• But the unit including Tarasenko after the Rangers acquired him last season produced at a rate of only 1.52 goals per 60, the second-lowest in these groupings.
Goals-per-60:00, with the numbers supplied by Natural Stat Trick, obviously is not the only measure of a line’s effectiveness. This is purely a calculation about production. It is also represents relatively small sample sizes.
When it comes to expected goals, the union featuring Panarin is off the charts, the line checking in with an xGF share of 81.82 percent. With Tarasenko, it is 75.0 percent. With Vatrano, 68.75 percent.
When Wheeler is in the mix, the number drops to just 45.69 percent, behind Kakko’s line, which checks in at 56.83 percent.
Alain Vigneault’s missed opportunities
I was thinking Alain Vigneault — who was an outstanding coach until things began to slip four years into a five-year Rangers tenure that included a trip the Cup final plus a Presidents’ Trophy season — was ahead of his time by constantly using the idiom, “If I were a betting man,” in answering questions.
As in, “If I were a betting man, I’d say Dylan McIlrath will not be in the lineup tomorrow.”
Imagine how much Vigneault — who officially retired in 2023 following a career in which he coached the Canadiens, Canucks, Rangers and Flyers to 722 victories, 11th-most in NHL history — could command as a spokesperson for one of the gambling concerns the league has welcomed into its bed.
“Hi. I’m AV. If I were a betting man — and I am!— these are the teams I like.”
Vigneault, of course, never had his name inscribed on the Cup, falling one victory short with Vancouver in 2011 after taking 2-0 and 3-2 leads over the Bruins before coming up three victories shy of a load with the Blueshirts in the 2014 final against the Kings.
The one that got away in 2011 haunted Vigneault. I’ve told this story before, but when the Rangers visited Los Angeles the season following their Cup appearance, the coach was asked about the memories and emotions it evoked.
He answered by talking about the series against the Bruins.
Want to catch a game? The Rangers schedule with links to buy tickets can be found here.
Home, sweet home
We talked earlier in the season about the Rangers’ unusual schedule, which saw them open with a scarcity of home games.
When they finish the four-game sojourn out west to Vegas, L.A., Anaheim and San Jose that follows Tuesday’s match at the Garden against Seattle, the Blueshirts will have 20 of their final 35 games at the Garden, including eight of the final 12.
After this upcoming trip, the club will have just three games out of the Eastern time zone, with one apiece in Chicago, Colorado and Arizona.
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