Filip Chytil couldn’t get off the bench the final 10:46 of Sunday’s game against the Sabres even with the Rangers down a center following Brett Howden’s exit late in the second, just as No. 72 didn’t play the final 14:05 of the third period (plus overtime) in Anaheim on Thursday, just as he didn’t get a turn the final 11:03 of regulation (plus OT) in San Jose two nights before that and the final 10:09 in LA two days before that.
So where is the 19-year-old, whose time has been steadily dwindling, going to get ice now that Lias Andersson has joined the band? Where does Chytil, who has yet to score a goal entering Game 15 Tuesday at the Garden against Montreal, fit once Howden returns to duty following an anticipated scratch for this one?
On left wing?
Or Hartford?
Hartford, most likely, at least for a spell.
There has been nothing damaging about the way David Quinn has apportioned ice time to Chytil any more than it was damaging to Tony DeAngelo to be designated as a healthy scratch six straight times before he got his shot — and has run with the opportunity — when Adam McQuaid went down in Chicago with what is believed a core injury that is likely to keep him sidelined for at least a couple of more weeks.
You don’t simply throw kids onto the pond and simply allow them to sink or swim. That is not coaching. But the fact that Quinn has seen fit to reduce Chytil’s time from an average of 14:04 through his first nine games to 10:01 the last five matches is reflective of the teenager’s rung on the ladder.
And whether Quinn’s assertion Sunday that the Rangers are building rather than rebuilding is merely a matter of semantics, it has been clear since the start of the season that the team is not running a day-care center. The organization is all-in on creating/maintaining a culture of success at the same time it is devoted to developing its youth.
Andersson played well with the Wolf Pack following his final-cut demotion, recording 12 points (4-8) in 14 games in the AHL. By all accounts, he earned this promotion. Chances are the Rangers did not recall the 20-year-old with the intention of bouncing him right back down when their forwards — including a nicked-up Ryan Spooner — are healthy.
Twin 2017 first-rounders Andersson at seventh overall and Chytil at 21st are linked, at least for the short term, just the way twin 1977 first-rounders Ron Duguay and Lucien DeBlois were linked until the latter was sent to the Colorado Rockies in early 1979-80 as part of the payment for Barry Beck. And no, unless, say Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon or Patrik Laine becomes available the way Big Beck did, neither of the new kids on the block is likely to be traded within the next 24 months.
The idea — The plan — is for Andersson and Chytil to both be part of the foundation, though the current logjam down the middle rules against both playing center. This has been apparent and a topic of conversation for months, but for as long as Mika Zibanejad and Kevin Hayes occupy the top two slots, there is only one more top-nine spot available. And by the way, that position is occupied by Howden. So now will Andersson get the 10 minutes a night that have belonged to Chytil since No. 72 was bumped to the fourth line between hardly complementary wingers Cody McLeod and Vinni Lettieri?
Does Quinn revisit the decision to remove Chytil from the top-nine role on the wing he held from Games 6 through 10? The coach could drop Spooner to the fourth line, but then what about Pavel Buchnevich? Or do the Rangers believe it is in Chytil’s long-term interest to get his skates underneath him with the Wolf Pack just as they made that decision with Andersson a little over one month ago?
Spooner, a pending free agent, is the round-peg/square-hole guy here. He’s a talented player whose perimeter-oriented game does not conform to the team identity. He needs power-play time in order to be productive. But his presence on the point is preventing DeAngelo from the getting the man-advantage time that ideally would go to No. 77.
The Rangers face several deployment and personnel decisions from both behind the bench and the front office. First on the list is Chytil’s immediate fate.
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