The Vancouver Canucks hit the ice for the third consecutive day at Rogers Arena for their offseason summer skates as they ramp up for training camp in Penticton beginning in just over two weeks.

It was a well-attended session, with the majority of Canucks players on the ice participating. One of those players was Filip Chytil, who is getting his first few skates under him since last February.

The 26-year-old Czech forward has struggled through head injuries throughout the majority of his nine-year NHL career. In game six of last season, Chytil was hit in the open ice by Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson, which held him out until game 52 of the season.

Chytil returned for another six-game stint, seeing his ice time decrease from over 18 minutes per night in his return to sub-eight minutes in his last game of the season. He would sit out the last contest before the Olympic break and did not play again that season as he was struck in the face by a puck during practice.

After Wednesday’s summer skate, Chytil spoke about how he took some time to focus on certain things, but that he is confident he’s ready for the season. He mentioned how there were a few things he did differently this offseason after struggling through two injuries that restricted him to just 12 games last season:

“Yeah, of course,” Chytil said. “Like it’s been a tough two years in a row for me. I had to focus on some things. I had so much time to focus on certain things off and on the ice. Yeah, I think it was very productive for myself. The people around me who I work with did a great job, and I can’t wait until the season starts.”

Chytil later opened up about what he specifically focused on, admitting that he spoke with multiple specialists in order to get himself both physically and mentally ready for the season:

“It was a lot of things,” Chytil began. “Like, I saw a lot of specialists about my health as well. I got a lot of feedback on my body. For myself personally, it was very positive, and then I could start to focus on the mental side and also on the physical side, and it went well. So yeah, now I’m here with the team, and I can focus only on myself.”

Having been out of the lineup since February, Chytil has had plenty of time to recover and get ready for this upcoming season. However, Chytil admitted that while all the offseason training is great, it’s not at the regular pace he’ll face when the puck officially drops in late September. There are daily steps he needs to take to build back up his confidence before the season starts. As of now, Chytil is taking his recovery day by day, setting small goals to reach every day for not only this season, but for the rest of his hockey career:

“Yeah, it depends on every practice. It’s with every practice that I’m stepping up the stairs. I’m passing one [step] after every day, you know. In the summer, I said I did very good things, but it’s still not like regular contact. It’s not regular skating with the team. It’s like preparing for camp and for the season, but now, yesterday I had first practice, and we did some good stuff. There was the first stair. The second one was today, the scrimmage. I felt good. I always put some goals into that and how I’m gonna feel. And yeah, it was okay. And tomorrow is another stair for me that I have to pass, and it’s gonna go like this for the rest of my season and the rest of my career.”

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