The numbers behind Filip Chytil’s defensive struggles through the first quarter of Canucks’ season

Everyone is happy that Filip Chytil has returned to action for the Vancouver Canucks. Despite plenty of well-documented injury troubles, it’s clear the 27-year-old just wants to play the sport he loves.

Perhaps that’s part of the reason that many seem less critical and more forgiving of his play though. But when one begins to peel the onion on his defensive metrics so far this season, it begins to show how much he’s actually struggling – and it’s not pretty.

And I know what you’re probably thinking. Breaking news: a player on the 32nd-ranked team in the NHL has poor defensive metrics. Of course, this shouldn’t surprise anyone. But Chytil’s numbers aren’t just among the worst; in some categories, they’re the worst in the NHL.

Diving into individual performances on Natural Stat Trick after Friday night’s loss to the New York Rangers, we noticed Chytil was the low-Canuck in Corsi For Percentage at 5v5. In fact, the entire line of Paul Cotter (37.04%), Jonathan Lekkerimäki (34.78%), and Chytil (32.14%) were the bottom three players in that metric.

This wasn’t the first time we noticed Chytil struggling to control shot attempts at 5v5. So we compared Chytil’s numbers to the rest of the league.

As of Friday night, 590 players have played 100+ 5v5 minutes this season. Here is where Chytil ranked in Corsi For Percentage (CF%), Fenwick For Percentage (FF%), Expected Goals Percentage (xGF%), Scoring Chances For Percentage (SCF%), and High-Danger Scoring Chances For Percentage (HDCF%) out of those 590 players at 5v5:

Additionally, Chytil is last among those same 590 players in 5v5 shot share, getting outshot 60-25 with him on the ice. He is also one of only 12 players on that list to be on the ice for one or fewer 5v5 goals.

Now, it may not be entirely his fault. One of his most frequent linemates, Cotter, has also struggled defensively at 5v5. His rankings in the same analytics mirror Chytil’s:

And when these two are on the ice together, the numbers get even worse:

It would be easier to forgive these poor defensive metrics if Chytil had at least been lighting it up offensively. However, since finding the scoresheet in his first two games, Chytil has gone pointless through his next six games. This is a little surprising considering his usage.

Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra has deployed Chytil as his top centre at 5v5 in six of his eight games, and his top forward overall in five of those six games. This season, he is averaging 19:34 minutes per game, nearly three minutes more than his next-highest average ice time season.

It’s also worth noting that Elias Pettersson is averaging 4:02 minutes of power play time and an extra 2:27 minutes of shorthanded ice time in Chytil’s games, which plays a role in Chytil being Malhotra’s top-utilized centre at 5v5. Nonetheless, Chytil is still receiving this deployment, and not only not doing anything with it offensively, but getting caved in defensively.

Why Chytil is struggling to create offence while also not being able to defend very well is something we don’t have the answers to right now. The two things likely feed into each other. But is this the player Chytil’s become? Is he a byproduct of the environment around him? Or has he become a tad hesitant in his own end, for fear of yet another injury? And that’s not a slight at him; most would understand, given his past.

Regardless, Chytil’s play has clearly declined this season, at both ends of the ice. He’s struggling to create offensively and is struggling to do his part in the defensive zone. Hopefully, we see him turn his output around once he gets a run of games under his belt. But given his league-worst on-ice metrics so far this season, he’s cost his team far too much in the defensive zone.