There have been more than eight weeks to ruminate over the plight of Filip Chytil, whose career appears to be in jeopardy in the aftermath of the 24-year-old sustaining what is believed to be his fourth concussion.
The overriding concern since Chytil left the MSG ice after what initially appeared to be a benign collision with former teammate Jesper Fast on Nov. 2 has been for the future quality of his life and not on which line he would play upon a return.
Michael Sauer, believed genetically predisposed to concussions, was forced into retirement at age 24 after 98 games on the Rangers blue line. This has seemed like that for a while now.
Sauer took that memorable, thundering hit up the right half-wall from Toronto’s Dion Phaneuf on which his helmet flew off and the back of his head thudded into the boards at the Garden on Dec. 5, 2011, left the ice immediately, skated on his own a couple of times a number of weeks thereafter, and, then, poof, was gone and never to be seen again as a Blueshirt.
When I was told Friday that Chytil would return to the Czech Republic to conduct the next phase of his recovery at home while surrounded by family, friends and pre-existing support systems after skating on his own on a nearly daily basis for almost five weeks at the Tarrytown practice rink, it reminded me of that.
It also reminded me of one of my favorite shibboleths during the 2004-05 and 2012-13 lockouts.
That was the one spread far and wide by the NHL that the owners are the ones in hockey who take the risks.
Nominated for the Most NHL Moment of 2023 and winner by acclamation:
The league’s favorite-son, cringe-worthy franchise in Chicago selecting the next prodigy, Connor Bedard, with the first-overall selection in the draft that should have been stripped from the organization for enabling the Kyle Beach sexual assault scandal but wasn’t because, well, the NHL.
The state of both NHL goaltending and Jonathan Quick’s game has reached the juncture where the Rangers might actually be able to get a No. 1 for their No. 2 — what do you think, Leafs Nation? — but wouldn’t even be able to think about doing it.
You tell me because I can’t quite figure it out:
Are the Islanders having the worst best season in the NHL or are the Islanders having the best worst season in the league?
How is Ninth Avenue’s soulless marketing campaign for the Alex Ovechkin Turtle Race to 894 going these days?
OK, who do you have in a bare-knuckle fight for the Jack Adams as coach of the year, Philadelphia’s John Tortorella or Vancouver’s Rick Tocchet?
Two “Michigans” scored on one night, the first by Bedard followed a couple of hours later by Trevor Zegras on Dec. 23, revived at least for an instant the question of whether this represents disrespectful showboating that has no place in the game and never would have been accepted by the old guard?
But how come no one was ever outraged by Denis Savard’s spin-a-rama back in the day?
The hockey has not gone exactly as planned so far. It is, though, mighty interesting that the Edmonton organization and its leadership group in the room has fostered a culture in which Connor McDavid wears pride tape on his stick on Pride Night in New Jersey and Zach Hyman issues a statement condemning anti-Semitism and support of Israel in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack.
I’m thinking that no team had a worse 2023 than the Flames, who missed the playoffs after going into the season ranked as a legit Cup contender; fired their coach; “parted ways” with their GM; are flailing to maintain contact with this season’s playoff race; and can’t seem to get their stars to sign extensions to stay in Calgary.
Have I missed much?
Well, there are the Blue Jackets, who seem to have an odd symmetry with the Flames since both Johnny Gaudreau and Jonathan Huberdeau have become linked in witness protection.
You might think that the Team of 2023 would be the Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights, but that would be incorrect.
The Team of 2023 is the 2018 Team Canada World Junior Team, still unscathed after all these years.
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