Filip Chytil’s latest unlucky break came in the most unusual way possible.
The Vancouver Canucks forward had to exit Thursday’s preseason matchup with the Edmonton Oilers after he tripped over the back of referee Riley Brace’s skates and slammed head first into the end boards. Vancouver later confirmed Chytil would not return, though the team did not offer any update on the exact nature or severity of any injury.
For Chytil, the incident adds another chapter to a career that has been derailed by injuries far too often. Last season alone, he missed 44 games because of an upper-body injury, sat out another with a migrain, and later suffered a facial fracture in Canucks practice after a deflected shot hit him while he was standing by the side of the net.
That stretch limited the Czech national to just 12 games for Vancouver last season, when he scored three goals and had no assists.
Chytil arrived in Vancouver midway through the 2024-25 season as part of a trade with the New York Rangers. The Canucks received Chytil, defenseman Victor Mancini and a conditional first-round pick in exchange for forward T.J.
Miller, defenseman Erik Brannstom and defenseman Jackson Dorrington. After the deal, Chytil produced two goals and four assists for six points in 15 games with Vancouver.
Now the Canucks are waiting to learn whether this latest scare is another setback involving the concussion issues that have followed him. He has already been diagnosed with five concussions in his relatively young career.
The 2017 first-round pick is heading into the final season of the four-year, $17.75 million contract he signed, and he is set to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason. Vancouver is also hoping he can find the kind of form he showed in 2022-23 with the Rangers, when he posted 22 goals and 23 assists for 45 points in 74 games.
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