NHL Insider Convinced the Vancouver Canucks Just Made the Right Decision with Filip Chytil
A trusted NHL insider has given his take on whether a trade will be needed before the season begins, but is also convinced the team made the right decision to trust Filip Chytil as their everyday second-line center.
The Vancouver Canucks have been trying to add a centerman to their roster for a good chunk of the offseason now, with the club being linked to, and even submitting offers for, guys like Mikael Granlund, Marco Rossi and Christian Dvorak.
So far, the Canucks have come up empty handed and some reports even suggest that the club may be comfortable going into the season with how things stand right now, meaning their second line centerman would be Filip Chytil.
"Though the Canucks would of course prefer to more proactively flesh out their centre depth ahead of time, hockey operations leadership is comfortable betting on the centres they have." Drance said.
With three weeks to go until camp begins, there's still a chance that Patrik Allvin could swing a deal for a centerman and one NHL insider shared his opinion on if the club needs to make a trade between now and opening night in early October.
NHL insider shares opinion on whether or not Vancouver Canucks need to make trade before opening night
This week, NHL insider John Shannon was a guest on Sekeres and Price where he spoke about the Canucks' center ice situation heading into the 2025-26 campaign and if he thinks they'll need to add some more help down the middle in the weeks ahead.
According to Shannon, he believes that the Canucks, for now, would be fine with having Filip Chytil plugged into that 2C role and they could always look at making an addition after the season begins if things don't work out, whether that be for health or performance reasons.
"I'm buying it for now. They can always try to improve the lot in life after the season starts. It's difficult, but they can always do that. But this is the same situation, I was actually talking to somebody who was in and around the Rangers for a while and they felt that Chytil never really got given a chance on a regular basis to contribute and one of it was because of injury. I mean one year he only played ten games for New York." Shannon said.
He added, "So if he's healthy, with his skills and his size, then there is a chance it can work. But it, and this is true for all 32 teams, but I know if you're a Canucks fan it always seems to be jumping up and biting on the butt, is if you're healthy at every position. But if Filip Chytil is healthy, then he can do the job. But we're still not convinced he can be that healthy, I think."
He added, "So if he's healthy, with his skills and his size, then there is a chance it can work. But it, and this is true for all 32 teams, but I know if you're a Canucks fan it always seems to be jumping up and biting on the butt, is if you're healthy at every position. But if Filip Chytil is healthy, then he can do the job. But we're still not convinced he can be that healthy, I think."
Thankfully for the Vancouver Canucks, Chytil has been putting in the work this summer now that he's back at 100 percent health and is ready for any role the Vancouver Canucks put him in this coming season.
"I love to score goals and I know I can score a lot more than I'm scoring now, or even what my best season was. So we're working with my skill coach around the net a lot. Working on my shot. Working on one-timers. This is the thing that I'm working on the most. Of course we're working on my edges - doing puck-handling. The thing I love the most is just shooting. I know there is so much room what to work on and so much room how to get better. Even the top players work on their shot all the time. I love to score goals and I need to score more." Chytil said.
Chytil and the rest of the Vancouver Canucks are set to open up training camp on September 17th in Penticton, British Columbia and it's going to be very interesting to see how the Czech forward is utilized.
Previously on Vancouver Hockey Daily
| POLL | ||
AOUT 26 | 1247 ANSWERS NHL Insider Convinced the Vancouver Canucks Just Made the Right Decision with Filip Chytil Do you think the Vancouver Canucks need to make a trade before the 2025-26 season begins? | ||
| Yes | 688 | 55.2 % |
| No | 559 | 44.8 % |
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