Filip Chytil going down for the remainder of the 2023-24 NHL season was a huge blow to the New York Rangers as they contend for the Stanley Cup come June. Chytil, 24, won’t see the ice again this year due to a lingering upper-body injury (concussion) he originally sustained in November and resurfaced during last Friday’s morning skate.
Rangers: Filip Chytil’s absence coupled with a rough stretch may warrant a push for Canadiens’ Sean Monahan
In his place, Sportsnet’s Elliott Friedman identified Montreal Canadiens center Sean Monahan as a piece the Rangers may look to ingratiate into their fold ahead of the March 8 trade deadline, per bluelinestation.com’s Conor Power.
The Rangers went an impressive 8-2 in the 10 games Chytil appeared in this year. Much of that coincided with the Rangers’ blistering start to the season in the month of October.
Nevertheless, while the Rangers (30-16) continue to sit atop the Metropolitan division, they’ve gone 5-7 in the month of January, and in that span, have a point percentage of 42.9 percent that places them at No. 22 of 32 teams in the NHL.
Monahan has 13 goals and 22 assists in the 2023-24 campaign. Of his 35 total points, eight have come in his last five outings. Monahan is a solid offensive piece who is also currently putting up the second-highest faceoff win percentage of his career at 55 percent.
The Rangers have been able to keep a winning record without Chytil, but as the back half of the season enters a crucial stretch, the bottom six will likely need reinforcements for the short term, especially once the playoffs roll around.
Monahan’s $1.98 million cap hit makes the 29-year-old an attractive target for Rangers management to pursue, even despite the 74 total games he missed over the course of his two prior seasons.
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