How Filip Chytil’s Injury During Practice Could Be Career Ending
Photo by Danny Wild / USA Today
On Friday morning, Jan. 26, it was reported that Rangers forward, Filip Chytil, went down on the ice after he was apparently injured during an optional morning skate. Details have not been made clear yet as to what happened on the ice, but beat reporter, Jonny Lazarus, tweeted out that it took a few minutes before Chytil even got off the ice.
Image Credit: Jonny Lazarus on X
While the injury did happen this morning, Chytil has not been in the lineup for the New York Rangers since Nov. 2. This is due to an injury he sustained against the Carolina Hurricanes, where he collided with Jesper Fast, ruling him out for the remainder of that game. He hasn’t played since that time, and in the moment the apparent diagnosis of that collision was a head injury. Chytil has now suffered four different concussions, since he started with the Rangers back in 2017; not ideal to say the very least.
After taking time away from the team while being on the Rangers’ long-term injured reserve, Chytil returned to his home country of Czechia, in order to continue his rehabilitation. While in Europe, he even began training with NHL legend, Jaromir Jagr, which many fans were happy to see. After a three-week stint overseas, Chytil returned to New York a few days ago, where the Rangers announced that he was resume practice with the team. As he was still technically “injured”, Chytil had to wear a red “no contact” jersey, signaling to the other players, that he was not to be touched.
Everything seemed to be going well for Chytil, while fans were excited to watch him play in Madison Square Garden for the first time in almost three months. After watching the team’s bottom six fail to score points, he was the one player that everyone thought would save the season offensively. After all, he did have six points in only 10 games before he got hurt. Unfortunately, the injury news struck the Rangers community this morning, leaving many distraught. One thing that people were not happy about, was the fact that the beat reporters watching the team’s practice, did not get a clear view as to what the injury looked like. As bad reporting statements were made by many, beat reporter, Jonny Lazarus had to tweet his own side of the story.
“I understand the frustration, I was working on my story as I was sitting in the stands watching morning skate. I had my head down and it happened in a split second, so I missed it. There were only three players on the ice, so you wouldn’t expect something like this to happen.”
As said before, details have yet to be announced on his most recent injury. One reporter did state that Chytil was not putting pressure down on his left leg, while others continue to state that it might be related to his head. If this does happen to be another head injury, there must be a conversation around whether or not he can continue to play. This is not just a discussion for this year, and shutting him down for the rest of the season, but for his career overall. Injuries like this can have a lasting impact, as seen with Filip Chytil, and it can also be life threatening to certain players. It is understandable why people want him back, since he is a tremendous player, but safety always comes first, especially in a situation like this.
Fans hope to see a healthy Chytil back on the ice as soon as possible, with hopes that this most recent headline is not as serious as it sounds.