Filip Chytil was the victim of a nasty hit by the Chicago Blackhawks’ Jason Dickinson late in Saturday’s 6-2 win for the Canucks.
The hit, let’s be clear, was not good.
Chytil crumpled to the ice, then stumbled when got back to his feet.
“It was a pretty bad hit so we’ll see how he is,” Tocchet said. He also didn’t have an update on his status.
Chytil suffered a serious concussion last season with the New York Rangers which cost him most of the 2023-24 season. And earlier this season he suffered a suspected concussion though the Rangers never openly acknowledged it.
The concern for Chytil, given all this, is obvious.
It was the kind of hit that used to bring immediate retribution. Victor Mancini paused a moment and looked ready to go at Dickinson but then realized that the Canucks had a scoring chance and instead joined the play.
Tocchet has pointed out before how the game has changed. In his day full-on brawls were common. Players were getting run all the time and the responses were immediate.
But when asked about watching his team go back-t- back games with nasty head-shot incidents and there being no literal response, Tocchet essentially didn’t answer.
He lined up a bunch of words, but talked out the clock without saying what you could sense he was feeling, that yes, he wished this were the old days.
“We have to have a pack of wolves’ mentality and … at the end of the game, or something like that. So, yeah, we’ll talk about that another day,” he said. He wasn’t mad at his team, but he seemed to recognize that he needed to clarify for his team when the time and a place for activity like that has arrived.