Filip Chytil leaves Canucks preseason game after skate collision with referee Riley Brace

The Story

Filip Chytil’s first turn at full speed in the Vancouver Canucks’ preseason game ended early after a collision with referee Riley Brace sent him into the end boards. The incident occurred roughly 15 minutes into the opening frame as Chytil chased a puck and his skates became tangled with those of the official, leaving Chytil to go hard into the boards.

Coach Manny Malhotra said afterward that Chytil is having his shoulder evaluated. “We’re having his shoulder looked at,” Malhotra said. “We’ll know more tomorrow.” The timing of that assessment underscores the uncertainty that follows on-ice contact, even when the initial impression does not suggest a direct head hit.

A key detail in how the team will approach the injury is that Chytil’s collision with the boards appeared to involve his shoulder first, with no indication in the immediate aftermath that he struck his head. However, the situation still has the potential to involve more than one body area, since whiplash-type symptoms can occur even without a clear head impact. With Malhotra describing the matter as a shoulder issue, the immediate concern for the Canucks is whether the injury is limited enough to avoid a longer absence.

Chytil has previously dealt with multiple head injuries in his career, including a situation last season in which a blindside hit by Tom Wilson took him out of the lineup for much of the year. He also missed the remainder of that season after a puck deflected off the glass into his face, contributing to a final tally of just 12 games played. Against that backdrop, any injury—particularly one involving collision and impact—carries heightened attention for team management and fans alike.

While Chytil’s exit dominated the early storyline, the game itself featured a strong start by Edmonton that Vancouver could not withstand. The Edmonton Oilers scored four minutes into the contest, taking advantage of a Canucks breakout that left Brock Boeser beaten on the boards. A loose puck was collected by Isaac Howard, who then fired it past Vancouver goaltender Nikita Tolopilo for the early lead.

Edmonton extended its advantage again in the second period, building a 2-0 lead about five minutes into the frame. The sequence began after a line change left Boeser stuck in the defensive zone; at the end of a 1:39-long shift, he was unable to get back in time on an Oilers counterattack. Viljami Marjala’s centring pass deflected off Jamie Oleksiak’s skate, creating an awkward rebound that Quinn Hughes—skating as the play’s finisher—pushed in to make it 2-0.

Still, Vancouver had stretches where its structure and puck control were difficult for Edmonton to match, particularly at even strength. The Canucks showed pronounced possession and shot-tilt when Elias Pettersson was on the ice with Jake DeBrusk and Linus Karlsson, including a stretch in which shot attempts were reported as 22-to-5 for Vancouver while they were working 5-on-5. That kind of differential is often a sign that a team is sustaining pressure even if it does not translate immediately into goals.

Pettersson’s individual contribution reflected that work. He recorded a team-high four hits and won 16 of 20 faceoffs. Despite those strengths, he finished with zero shots on goal, an outcome Malhotra framed as part of a larger problem of converting quality time into actual net pressure. “When you have quality O-zone time, it means that you’re doing things right,” Malhotra said. “But to the bigger picture stuff — getting pucks to the interior, attacking the seams, getting pucks on net is the bigger issue.”

DeBrusk echoed that emphasis on creating offence with urgency, noting the team’s intention to develop a stronger shot mentality. “We just need to have a shot mentality,” DeBrusk said. “Me and Karly were using the walls pretty good there; we’ve just got to find ways to get it to the net.” For the Canucks, those comments are especially relevant in the preseason, where players are not only building conditioning but also trying to establish habits that carry into the regular season.

Special teams also produced an important moment for Vancouver in the second period. On a penalty drawn by Öhgren, the Canucks’ second power-play unit generated a scoring opportunity that ended with Zeev Buium opening up from the left side of the zone. The shot became more of a pass, and Karlsson quickly pulled the puck to his forehand before tucking it past Edmonton goaltender Tristan Jarry for Vancouver’s goal.

Karlsson described the focus behind his finish as connected to returning to core behaviours rather than trying to force anything complicated. “I was focusing on getting used to the habits I had last year: go to the net, win puck battles, and all that stuff,” Karlsson said. “Yeah, I scored, but I also felt that there’s a lot about the timing and stuff that I need to get better at. But it’s nice. I tried to focus on those things and it paid off.”

Edmonton’s physical presence remained a factor throughout, and Vancouver answered at times. Oleksiak, in particular, drew attention after Connor Clattenburg confronted Karlsson near the benches. Oleksiak moved directly over to prevent further escalation, skating between the officials and the point of contact to ensure the situation did not continue.

Goalkeeping and defensive positioning were also on display in a moment that highlighted the intensity even in exhibition play. Jarry had previously scored a goalie goal in the NHL while with the Pittsburgh Penguins and attempted something similar again in this game. Pettersson broke up the attempt by swatting the puck out of the air, preventing Jarry from adding to his highlight reel.

For Vancouver, the evening carried a familiar preseason balance of competing objectives: evaluating lineup decisions, building timing, and measuring execution while accepting that details often lag early in the schedule. Malhotra said the team’s start was not sharp and that intensity and execution were lacking at the start, even as the Canucks improved during the second period. “It looked like a lot of guys’ first game, so, as expected, it wasn’t as sharp as we wanted it to be,” Malhotra said. “Outcome aside, it was more the lack of execution early out of the gate and the lack of intensity in our game. We started to find it for the second period, started turning it on a little bit more, which was good to have that response. Don’t want to read too far into this one.”

With Chytil now under evaluation for a shoulder injury, the immediate practical significance for Vancouver is the impact on its forward group heading into the next stretch of exhibition games. Malhotra’s comment that more clarity will be available the following day sets the next checkpoint for the team as it weighs treatment and the risk profile for a player with a recent history of being sidelined by serious injury. The Canucks’ broader takeaways from the game—shot creation, net traffic, and even-strength pressure—will likely be adjusted against whatever impact Chytil’s status has on their upcoming lineup combinations.