For Filip Chytil, the biggest storyline heading into 2026-27 isn’t points, role, or even where he lines up in the Canucks’ forward group. It’s whether he can simply stay in the lineup.
That’s been the problem for years. Chytil, who turns 27 in September, has seen his North American career repeatedly interrupted by injuries, and the last 18 months in Vancouver have been especially brutal.
He has suffered six concussions in his career, including two since joining the Canucks. Last October, a hit from Tom Wilson in a game against the Washington Capitals left him with a concussion and out until January.
Not long after returning, migraines knocked him out again. Then, just as he had been medically cleared and was set to come back after the Olympic break, he took a puck to the face in practice and suffered a facial fracture.
He has not played since February 2.
That kind of stop-start stretch makes Chytil one of the harder players on the roster to project. His best and worst outcomes are both clouded by the same issue: there just hasn’t been enough uninterrupted hockey to get a clean read on him.
His most games in a season is 75, set in 2018-19, followed by 74 in 2022-23. In Vancouver, he has only 27 games under his belt.
So for now, the baseline goal is simple. Get healthy.
Stay available.
A full, normal season would already count as a win. If Chytil can play all 84 games, or even a slightly smaller total, a 20-goal season is well within reach. In 2025-25, his last mostly intact campaign, he finished with 13 goals and 26 points in 56 games split between the New York Rangers and the Canucks.
When Vancouver acquired him in the J.T. Miller deal, the expectation was that Chytil would step into the second-line centre role Miller had filled.
That makes sense on paper. His speed and skill are the biggest parts of his game, and his playmaking has improved.
The two-way side of his game can still be uneven, but it is also more established than what some of the less experienced centres on the roster can offer. The Canucks have also tried him on the wing before, though a move away from centre feels unlikely unless he ends up fitting cleanly beside another centre’s game.
If he stays healthy and keeps his head up, especially through the neutral zone, while steering clear of bigger bodies and heavy contact, Chytil still has a chance to put together the kind of season that looks routine on the surface and means a great deal underneath it.
There is also a much bigger version of the story. If Chytil has a career year in scoring and avoids the injury cycle that has followed him, he could change the conversation around him entirely.
On a contending team, he profiles as a middle-six player. On a rebuilding Canucks club, a breakout season could push him into top-six centre territory.
Beating his previous high of 22 goals and 23 assists from 2022-23 would put him in the 50-point range and lift him into a different tier. That kind of season would also raise his value, whether Vancouver views him as part of its future or as a possible trade chip later on.
Of course, the other side of the coin is impossible to ignore. Another injury setback would be more than a disappointment.
It could shape the rest of his career. Chytil has already dealt with enough health issues that further trouble would deepen the sense that he is a difficult player to trust long term.
Missing 10 or more games this season could leave a mark that is hard to erase.
The uncomfortable reality is that both versions of the argument can be true at once. He is still only 26, and there is time for him to find a real groove and put together a prime stretch. But the history of head injuries raises a much more serious question about what continued damage could mean beyond hockey.
This season may be Chytil’s last real chance to make his case in Vancouver. His four-year deal originally signed by the Rangers expires next summer, which means he has until the trade deadline to either convince the Canucks he belongs or, more likely, boost his value as a trade asset.
All of it comes back to the same thing. If he can stay healthy.
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