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Earlier this week, the Hawks made the call to send Lukas Reichel down to Rockford in hopes of finding his game. This season was Reichels first shot at a full-time spot in the NHL, and after last season, hopes were high that he would make the jump with ease and show he belongs in the conversation of being a member of the future core. Last year, he proved that he was outgrowing the AHL, putting up 51 points in 55 games. Then, when he got his shot to play with the big club, he continued his offensive touch, putting up 15 points in 23 games. Those numbers in 23 games truly didn’t do him justice last year, as he was the victim of the classic “an inch the other way and its in." He showed great speed and a good hockey IQ, and more importantly, he just looked like he was having a blast getting his second taste of NHL action. Once the season mercifully came to an end last year, one thing was clear: Lukas Reichel earned a spot on the 2023–2024 Chicago Blackhawks.
The stars were aligning in Reichels favor this year, Lock to be on the opening night roster, a phenom in Connor Bedard joining the team to not only be a potential linemate but also take a lot of pressure from the 21-year-old, and finally extremely low expectations from the top to the bottom of this roster. Reichel had absolutely no reason to feel stressed or under any pressure going into his first full season. He was either going to be playing with Bedard, who just makes everyone around him better, or he was going to get his own line and a chance to avoid playing the other team's top lines as they would try their best to match them up against Bedard. Life was going to be good for the 21-year-old until it wasn't, and boy was it ugly. In 50 games this season, he only managed to put up 10 points. He was healthy and scratched multiple times, and considering the roster this team has had for most of the season, that is a really bad look. He only managed to get 63 shots on net and saw his playing time average come in at just over 14 minutes a game. The kid is snake-bitten, the kid has yips, and the kid has zero confidence in himself. Once the new year hit, the question began to fly: Is Reichel a bust? How can you fix his game? Should he be in Rockford? While players try to say they don’t pay attention to the outside noise, in the social media era, it's almost impossible to not see what is being said about you. Finally, the team made the call to send him to Rockford and gave him the assurance that it was for the best. When asked what he told Reichel, Coach Richardson said, ‘You’re a great young man. You’re a pleasure to work with. Now you’ve got to find that desire internally. We know that you want it, but you’ve got to get over feeling sorry for yourself and just be excited to play and go after it.“ We just said, ‘We believe in you. We believe you can do it. It’s just a matter of time. You have to find a way to find it.’ Just another example of why the Hawks have the right man in the head coaching position for this rebuild.
So now, while we wait to see how he responds in Rockford, the debate continues what the future looks like for Reichel. Do they continue to play the long game with him and let him play more time in Rockford, not only for the rest of this season but also for a good chunk of next season? Do they get him back up with the big club towards the end of the season to see if he can find the same short-term success that he had at the end of last season? Do they cut their losses, move on from the upcoming RFA, and possibly use him as a trade bait piece at the deadline? For me, when you look at his situation, it has time for a change of scenery written all over it. A player who just can’t find his game and appears to be lost in the lineup, but when you look at him more closely, he is a 21-year-old who has played under 85 NHL games. The kid has never had a cup of coffee in the NHL, and yet so many want to write him off. Trading him to just give him a fresh start should be off the table; in fact, if KD were to try and move him now, he would be moving him at his lowest value, and that hasn’t been the way he has handled this team since taking on the GM role. I don’t think you even consider using him as a sweetener in a trade because this team will not be looking to add game changers to the lineup this deadline or off season.
What would I do? I would let him finish the year in Rockford; let him not only find his game and confidence but also just get to the point that he is enjoying hockey again. At the end of the day, things were lined up perfectly on paper for Reichel to have success this season. The reality is that this team was hammered with injuries, forcing Coach Richardson to get creative with lines. A thin talent forward group already got even thinner, leaving him to almost have to fend for himself out there and do a lot on his own, and without any support, it's no surprise we are in the spot that we currently are in. If you want an idea of how this could play out, take a look at Kurashev. While he might not have had the same hype as Reichel, he was fixed in as an important piece for this team's future. He didn’t perform the way the team had hoped, so when it came time for his RFA status, he was given a one-year, $750k prove-it deal, took a good step forward, earned a two-year, $4.5 million deal, and has had a fantastic season. This seems to be the only option at this time for Reichel, so let's hope he can respond the same way.
If you’re Kyle Davidson, what is the move you're making to handle Lukas Reichel?
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