Filip Chytil saga is exhausting for everyone.
The 24-year-old Rangers center suffered a concussion on November 2nd and has had difficulty recovering since then, raising concerns about his safety.
After several weeks of rehab in New York, skating alone at a practice facility, Sitil returned to his home in the Czech Republic, where he was able to be surrounded by a broader support system of family and friends during his rehab.
Most often, a cone of silence surrounds Chytil's position. This Thursday marks 11 weeks since No. 72 was injured in an on-ice collision when his head bounced off Carolina's Jesper Fast without contact.
But on Monday, it appears there was some encouraging news from the Czech Republic, as Sitil posted a photo. his instagram account It depicted him on the ice working with his personal coach Radek Duda and an old man named Jaromir Jagr.
The light at the end of the tunnel may not be a rushing train after all.
Numbers can be deceiving
Adding Blake Wheeler to the relationship between Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider doesn't seem to work at all, right? On the ice, from left to right, he is a trio of veterans, ages 32, 30, and 37, but they never seemed to be in sync.
But interestingly, the underlying numbers tell a somewhat different story.
Of the eight right wingers BFF has played at least 45 minutes since the start of the 2021-22 season, Wheeler's line has the second-highest scoring rate behind the unit that featured back-to-back Artemi Panarin cameos. The appearance.
When Panarin is with Zibanejad and Kreider, the No. 10 is more often replaced by two substitutes by head coach Peter Laviolette, but as has been the case intermittently, the line is closed at 60:00. He is scoring at a rate of 4.5 goals per second. With Wheeler's addition, the unit scored at a rate of 3.68 goals per 60 goals.
And do you know which combination of strains produces the second lowest percentage of the eligible triumvirate?
That's a unit that includes former and current member Kaapo Kakko, who is scoring 2.05 goals per 60 points.
As the March 8 trade deadline approaches, here are some statistics general manager Chris Drury may want to keep in mind. One-off loanees Frank Vatrano and Vlad Tarasenko are expected to be available again this time:
• The line scored at a pace of 3.54 goals per 60 after the Blueshirts acquired Vatrano before the 2022 deadline. This ranks him third behind Panarin and Wheeler.
• But after the Rangers acquired Tarasenko last season, the unit that included Tarasenko only scored 1.52 goals per 60, the second-lowest among those groups.
Number of goals per 60:00 and their numbers Provided by Natural Stat Trick, clearly not the only measure of line effectiveness. This is purely a production calculation. It also represents a relatively small sample size.
When it comes to expected goals, the Union featuring Panarin is off the charts, with this line equating to an 81.82 percent xGF share. In Mr. Tarasenko's case, it is 75.0%. For Mr. Vatrano, it was 68.75 percent.
When Wheeler joins the team, that number drops to just 45.69 percent, second only to Kakko's line's 56.83 percent.
Alain Vigneault's missed opportunity
Alain Vigneault was an outstanding coach until things started to slide four years into his five-year tenure with the Rangers, which included a trip to the Cup Finals and a Presidents Trophy season, but always to use this idiom. I thought it was ahead of its time. “If I were a gambler,” he answered the question.
Something like, “If I were a betting man, I'd say Dylan McIlrath won't be in tomorrow's lineup.”
Vigneault, who will officially retire in 2023 after coaching the Canadiens, Canucks, Rangers and Flyers and winning 722 games, 11th in NHL history, is a spokesperson for the league's gambling problem. I want you to imagine if you could take command. He was welcomed into bed.
“Hello. I'm AV. If I were a gambling person, and so am I! – these are the teams I like.”
Of course, Vigneault never had his name engraved on the Cup, falling one win short after leading the Bruins 2-0, 3-2 against Vancouver in 2011, but he was a Blueshirt player in 2014. However, with only three wins left, they were just one step away. Final game against the Kings.
The one that escaped in 2011 possessed Vigneault. I've told this story before, but when the Rangers visited Los Angeles the season after their Cup appearance, the coach was asked about the memories and emotions it evoked.
He responded by talking about the series with the Bruins.
Want to catch the game? The Rangers schedule and links to purchase tickets can be found here.
home sweet home
We talked about the Rangers' unusual schedule earlier in the season. The Rangers opened the season with almost no home games.
After Tuesday's game against Seattle at the Garden, followed by a four-game road trip out West to Vegas, Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Jose, the Blueshirts have lost their last 35 games, including eight of their last 12. 20 of those games will be played at the Garden.
After this next trip, the club will only have three Eastern time games, one each in Chicago, Colorado and Arizona.
