Filip Chytil

[ChilliBilly]

I've always suspected the Canucks view Chytil as an avenue to cap-space, rather than as a roster player asset.

Keep in mind that Chytil will only be 25 years old at the time of the next buyout window—meaning they will only be on the hook for 33% of his remaining cap-hit if they were to buy him out. The cap-hit of such a buy-out would be only $281k, $1.4m, $718k, $718k.

Ownership was more than happy to get out of the Virtanen and OEL contracts. I wonder if they would do it again for Chytil if they thought they could spend that cap on a UFA like Marner or Ehlers...

Aren't we running out of buy out options? I thought you only had a fixed number. While the cap hit isn't bad, I hate the fact that we carry guys for years instead of just living with bad contracts that we accepted.

And I really wish there was a mechanism for guys to retire due to injury where the team could just pay out his remaining salary and have it done. This forcing guys to remain on the roster just decreases the money available to pay players with. it really doesn't do anyone any good.

 

[VanJack]

An indefinite stint on LTIR is probably just as good, if not better for the Canucks than an outright 'buy out'. Aren't player salaries insured?

If that's the case, then league insurance pays for Chytil's salary and the Canucks still gain the cap-room.

 

[StickShift]

An indefinite stint on LTIR is probably just as good, if not better for the Canucks than an outright 'buy out'. Aren't player salaries insured?

If that's the case, then league insurance pays for Chytil's salary and the Canucks still gain the cap-room.

LTIRetirement is only effective if the club is spending to the salary cap, then they can exceed his cap-hit. If they are spending to below the cap (like they are this year) they would get no relief.

With the rising salary cap and the weakening Canadian dollar—I would be surprised if the Canucks spend to the cap unless they are clearly contending. It makes more sense to me that they would buy out his contract now for cheap rather than service it through insurance if he does retire.

Remember too that LTIRetirement requires the player to cooperate. The worst scenario might be if he doesn't want to retire. If his chronic injury makes him only a part-time option they have to tie-up his cap-space while never actually being sure if he will be ready to play their most important games.

Buying him out creates certainty for the Canucks out of a situation with a lot of flux.

Aren't we running out of buy out options? I thought you only had a fixed number.

AFAIK there is no limit to how many buy-outs a team can have at any time.

 

[F A N]

Aren't we running out of buy out options? I thought you only had a fixed number.

There are no limits to the number of players you can buyout. The dead cap space just adds up. Also you can't buy out an injured player.

While the cap hit isn't bad, I hate the fact that we carry guys for years instead of just living with bad contracts that we accepted.

And I really wish there was a mechanism for guys to retire due to injury where the team could just pay out his remaining salary and have it done. This forcing guys to remain on the roster just decreases the money available to pay players with. it really doesn't do anyone any good.

Ya but ultimately that's not what the owners want from the salary cap. The NHL has changed rules that make it harder to circumvent the cap including limiting contract length. Otherwise, if "there was a mechanism for guys to retire due to injury where the team could pay out his remaining salary and have it done" the rich teams could go back to offering long term contracts to older players and not worry about consequences.

The NHL is unusual in that it punishes older players with the 35+ year. Like I don't even know why players and owners voted for that. A lot of older players who can still contribute have been pushed out of the league while all else being equal, I would imagine that teams are better off in terms of jersey and ticket sales having a big name aging player playing on the 4th line as opposed to a fringe NHL player.

 

[PavelBure10]

Truly feel awful for Chytil and I wish for a full recovery, but with Chytil's concussion history this was a very stupid trade to begin with.

 

[BoHorvat 53]

Truly feel awful for Chytil and I wish for a full recovery, but with Chytil's concussion history this was a very stupid trade to begin with.

I mean, Dickinson laid him out with a dirty hit - the majority of players would probably be walking out of there with a concussion if they were on the receiving end of that bullshit.

If he was getting concussed on a clean play, then yeah, sure that may be the right perspective but knowing how he got hurt I'm not sure how you reach that conclusion.

 

[F A N]

I mean, Dickinson laid him out with a dirty hit - the majority of players would probably be walking out of there with a concussion if they were on the receiving end of that bullshit.

If he was getting concussed on a clean play, then yeah, sure that may be the right perspective but knowing how he got hurt I'm not sure how you reach that conclusion.

I think with concussions, it's hard to predict the impact. Like you said, any player could have suffered a concussion from that dirty hit. So on the one hand, any player could have had their careers ended, miss significant number of games, and or suffer long-term consequences from that hit.

On the other hand, previous concussions make one more susceptible to suffering another concussion. The impact from another concussion can be magnified as well. There's also the fact that a player like Chytil is more likely to call it quits despite feeling OK due to future health concerns than a player recovering from his first concussion. Take Ferland. He actually wanted to make another comeback but people around him were telling him don't.

At the end of the day, Chytil's health was a serious concern prior to the trade. He only played 10 regular season games last season and now he's out again with another concussion. This isn't an I told you so but I don't know how anyone here can argue that there isn't an above average risk that Chytil will suffer another concussion and be out a significant period of time. It's like a top boxer who got knocked out for the first time. Comes back and win an easy fight and then gets knocked out again. There would be calls for him to retire.

It sucks and I wish Chytil a speedy recovery but as a fan of the Canucks I can't be confident that we can rely on Chytil to play a significant role on this team.

 

[VanJack]

I think with concussions, it's hard to predict the impact. Like you said, any player could have suffered a concussion from that dirty hit. So on the one hand, any player could have had their careers ended, miss significant number of games, and or suffer long-term consequences from that hit.

On the other hand, previous concussions make one more susceptible to suffering another concussion. The impact from another concussion can be magnified as well. There's also the fact that a player like Chytil is more likely to call it quits despite feeling OK due to future health concerns than a player recovering from his first concussion. Take Ferland. He actually wanted to make another comeback but people around him were telling him don't.

At the end of the day, Chytil's health was a serious concern prior to the trade. He only played 10 regular season games last season and now he's out again with another concussion. This isn't an I told you so but I don't know how anyone here can argue that there isn't an above average risk that Chytil will suffer another concussion and be out a significant period of time. It's like a top boxer who got knocked out for the first time. Comes back and win an easy fight and then gets knocked out again. There would be calls for him to retire.

It sucks and I wish Chytil a speedy recovery but as a fan of the Canucks I can't be confident that we can rely on Chytil to play a significant role on this team.

I don' really think that the Canucks really ever expected Chytil 'to play a significant role on this team' either.

They had to accept Chytil's contract to make the Miller trade work. And I see Allvin is already telling the media that the team will 'address the hole at center' in the off-season.

Problem is, there's basically nobody on the UFA list that moves the needle at all. So it will have to be a trade. But teams with legit top-two centers, really aren't interested in trading them.

 

[JohnHodgson]

I didn't like this acquisition at all but was pleasantly surprised by his first couple games.

Since then ... yuck. Chances have dried up, production has dried up, he's absolutely terrible defensively and has looked like the same player I didn't really like at all with NYR. And now he's had another concussion (which a bunch of people have correctly been saying looked inevitable the way he was playing) and it's probably 50/50 whether his career is over.

Terrible trade target.

Am I reading this right?

As if JTM didn't have an NMC and basically only wanted to go to NYR.

Who else were we supposed to target? Like y'all are being so unserious right now.

Chytil was an interesting player that played center and was needed to facilitate the trade for salary purposes. Nobody said he was a bonafide #2.

He also got concussed on a dirty blindsided hit in a blowout game. Dogging on the guy and the transaction when he got hurt from a dirty hit (that would/could have concussed many other NHL players) is stooping pretty low - even for Canucks fans. Let's have some class man.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

I mean, Dickinson laid him out with a dirty hit - the majority of players would probably be walking out of there with a concussion if they were on the receiving end of that bullshit.

No... hits like that happen every other game. It was nothing special.

It just feels that way when you know what happened and you know what was likely to happen.

It was worth a penalty.

If he was getting concussed on a clean play, then yeah, sure that may be the right perspective but knowing how he got hurt I'm not sure how you reach that conclusion.

 

[VanJack]

Am I reading this right?

As if JTM didn't have an NMC and basically only wanted to go to NYR.

Who else were we supposed to target? Like y'all are being so unserious right now.

Chytil was an interesting player that played center and was needed to facilitate the trade for salary purposes. Nobody said he was a bonafide #2.

He also got concussed on a dirty blindsided hit in a blowout game. Dogging on the guy and the transaction when he got hurt from a dirty hit (that would/could have concussed many other NHL players) is stooping pretty low - even for Canucks fans. Let's have some class man.

I really don't think posters are ragging on Chytil in any way. They're just stating the obvious.

He's still only 25, but has missed a ton of playing time with a string of concussions. In fact two years ago, he missed almost the entire season in concussion protocol.

With a concussion history like that--I can't believe that he was the guy the Canucks really wanted from the Rangers. Obviously somebody like Lafrenniere or Lindgren would have been far preferable.

But Chytil's $4.45m contract was the price the Canucks had to pay to off-load the entirety of the Miller contract. I'm sure they hoped Chytil could stay healthy--but understood the risk.

And now that's he's once again back in concussion protocol, you'd have to say his career as an NHL player is seriously in doubt.

It's a devastating blow for him, I'm sure. But almost inevitable the way he plays with his head down coming over the blueline. It really does remind me a lot of the way Lindros played.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

I really don't think posters are ragging on Chytil in any way. They're just stating the obvious.

He's still only 25, but has missed a ton of playing time with a string of concussions. In fact two years ago, he missed almost the entire season in concussion protocol.

With a concussion history like that--I can't believe that he was the guy the Canucks really wanted from the Rangers. Obviously somebody like Lafrenniere or Lindgren would have been far preferable.

But Chytil's $4.45m contract was the price the Canucks had to pay to off-load the entirety of the Miller contract. I'm sure they hoped Chytil could stay healthy--but understood the risk.

And now that's he's once again back in concussion protocol, you'd have to say his career as an NHL player is seriously in doubt.

It's a devastating blow for him, I'm sure. But almost inevitable the way he plays with his head down coming over the blueline. It really does remind me a lot of the way Lindros played.

I doubt they viewed Chytil as a cap dump.

If so, the trade was insanely bad by our management.

They saw that he could be a potential middle six play driving C if he could up his decision making in the OZone and stay healthy.

 

[VanJack]

Well, checking on Chytil's career, his first major concussion was in the 2021-22 season where he played only 42 games. He suffered his second concussion in 2022-23 and missed the last month.

Then in 2023-24 he spent all but 10 games in concussion protocol. Reportedly he tried to return to practice but couldn't. I mean how much more of a 'red flag' do you need?

So if Allvin really "saw him as a potential middle-six play driving C who could up his decision making in the O-Zone and stay healthy' then he was dreaming in technicolor.

There's almost zero chance we see Chytil again this season. And the GM can hardly be 'blindsided' by this development either.

 

[Diamonddog01]

It's not just the concussion history it's also his head down skating style as other have noted. In most of the games I've watched him in it looked like he was lucky not to get blown up - this was just a matter of time unfortunately.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

Well, checking on Chytil's career, his first major concussion was in the 2021-22 season where he played only 42 games. He suffered his second concussion in 2022-23 and missed the last month.

Then in 2023-24 he spent all but 10 games in concussion protocol. Reportedly he tried to return to practice but couldn't. I mean how much more of a 'red flag' do you need?

So if Allvin really "saw him as a potential middle-six play driving C who could up his decision making in the O-Zone and stay healthy' then he was dreaming in technicolor.

There's almost zero chance we see Chytil again this season. And the GM can hardly be 'blindsided' by this development either.

Then the trade is malpractice.

 

[F A N]

I don' really think that the Canucks really ever expected Chytil 'to play a significant role on this team' either.

They had to accept Chytil's contract to make the Miller trade work. And I see Allvin is already telling the media that the team will 'address the hole at center' in the off-season.

Problem is, there's basically nobody on the UFA list that moves the needle at all. So it will have to be a trade. But teams with legit top-two centers, really aren't interested in trading them.

I think management wanted a 2C back and targeted Chytil.

 

[VanJack]

I guess when you step back and think about it, Allvin has a pretty clear 'ask' when it comes to trading major pieces like Horvat and Miller.

The discussion starts with a first round draft pick; then it's on to roster player like Beauvillier or Chytil who can step into the lineup immediately; then there's a B-level prospect like Raty or Mancini.

He then turns around and flips the first rounder for blueline help: HIronek and Marcus Pettersson.

The difference between Horvat and Miller of course, is that Miller had full no-trade protection; while Horvat could have been moved anywhere as I recall. So Miller could reduce the team's options to one or two teams--although it would appear the Rangers were the only team he really wanted to go to.

So although Chytil's time in Vancouver looks like it might end in disappointment--if he's bought out, the key advantage of the deal is that they moved Miller's $8m contract, with no retention....while Horvat was an impeding UFA without a contract.