Former Rangers center has ‘so many emotions’ after scoring in Canucks debut following trade
Filip Chytil capped a whirlwind weekend by scoring his first goal with his new team Sunday after being traded by the New York Rangers 48 hours prior.
It all left the 25-year-old Vancouver Canucks center pretty emotional after a 3-2 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings.
“It meant a lot to me. In the moment, there was so many emotions in my head,” Chytil said about his goal, which tied the game 2-2 at 10:46 of the third period.
Chytil showed great patience, collecting a loose puck off the rush, gliding to his left until he found a lane and then snapped a shot past Red Wings goalie Alex Lyon. It was a hint of what he can bring to the Canucks top six, and it was a clutch goal, one that helped the Canucks grab a point in the standings.
“There were some guys in front of me, and even some guys behind trying to strip the puck from me. Yeah, I saw that there wasn’t an open lane to shoot right away, so I was holding it as long as I could,” Chytil explained. “I’m happy it went in.”
The goal was part of a strong Canucks debut for Chytil, who was traded by the Rangers on Friday along with defenseman Victor Mancini and a protected first-round pick in this year’s draft to Vancouver for forward J.T. Miller, defenseman Erik Brannstrom and a defense prospect.
Skating on a line with Conor Garland and Dakota Joshua, Chytil logged 20:03 TOI, had three shots on goal and five shot attempts, and won nine of 12 face-offs. He was on ice for Alex Debrincat’s first-period goal against and DeBrincat’s game-winner at 4:18 of overtime.
But that line was excellent 5v5, out-chancing the opposition 7-3 and posting a whopping xGF of 80.66 percent, per Natural Stat Trick.
“Really good,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet quickly answered when asked postgame about Chytil’s debut. “Controlling the play, wanting the puck. Off the rush, obviously he’s a guy that can make some plays off the rush. Obviously, a big goal for us. So, it was a good debut for him.”
Related: J.T. Miller trade grades for Rangers, Canucks
Filip Chytil admits to ‘lot of emotions’ following trade from Rangers
Those 20 minutes Chytil played Sunday were roughly six minutes more than he was averging with the Rangers in 41 games this season. In fact, the most TOI Chytil’s averaged in the NHL was last season, when he started off between Artemi Panarin and Alexis Lafreniere and sat at 15:56 through 10 games until he was concussed and missed the rest of the regular season.
Vincent Trocheck took Chytil’s place on that line and the No. 21 overall pick in the 2017 draft was back in his usual third-line role this season. The opportunity in Vancouver is there for him to play a much bigger role since he’s in essence replacing Miller in the lineup behind star center Elias Pettersson.
The 20+ minutes he logged Sunday all came at even strength, including when he was sent out to start overtime.
“I was very happy that I got that opportunity to be there,” Chytil said.
As for being traded, Chytil admitted he’s still working through his feelings.
“It’s seven-and-a-half years with one team and you’re traded for the first time, it’s very hard and a lot of emotions in the head,” he explained. “But right away when I jumped in the warmup and saw the fans in the building and saw how everyone was pumped up for the game, I started to feel like this is the team where I want to be.”
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