Lukas Reichel - The Wunderkind

Clean breakouts and impressive speed for the towering giant that is Alex Vlasic was the topic of last weeks post.

This week we look at speed and... well, not much else.

Lukas Reichel, the wunderkind that was. His season this year has been disappointing and there's nothing else to describe it.

Even if you were pessimistic, it was hard to think that Reichel's sophomore season would be this.

I'll be looking at Reichel's junior career, his earlier games in the NHL, and how he's faring so far.

These are my observations and I am not here to say what I think Reichel will become. I'll speculate, sure. But as with any NHL prospect, you never know what you have.

Reichel's Junior Career

Lukas Reichel was playing with Eisbaren Berlin when he was drafted in 2020, he was coming off of a decent 2019-2020 season in Germany. He posted 24 points (12 goals and 12 assists) in 42 games, all on the wing. As such, Stan Bowman drafted Reichel in the 1st Round with the 17th pick as a winger.

During the 2020-2021 season, Reichel was playing on the wing until he was switched to center during the regular season. He played 38 games (30 of which were played as a center) and scored 27 points, 10 goals, and 17 assists. The first 8 games were slow for Reichel, however, once he was promoted to the 1st line as center, he exploded with 25 points in 30 games.

His team went to the playoffs where he played as a centerman. Through 9 postseason games, he posted 5 points. Although not impressive, you can see where some of the hype came from.

What's interesting is that Reichel was praised for his forechecking ability, backchecking, and winning battles. That hasn't translated to his NHL play.

That brings us to Rockford where Reichel was played as a centerman.

In the 2021-2022 season, Lukas Reichel crushed the AHL with 57 points in 56 games as a center. For a young player in a professional league, this was not bad. At the end of '22, we get our first look at Reichel in the NHL. In 11 games, he had 1 point.

A young player from Europe needs to take time to develop, right? We all saw the flashes of skill, which are impressive for a young player's first 11 NHL games, right? The scoring will come, just look at those AHL numbers... right?

Next season, Kyle Davidson decides to keep Reichel in Rockford. He wants to marinate him. Let him develop. If he impresses during his callups, sure. Just maybe he'll be a regular NHLer... he just has to earn it.

So in 2022-2023, we see Reichel post 51 points in 55 games as a centerman in Rockford. Reichel gets called up a few times to play wing and posts 15 points in 23 NHL games.

We learn that Reichel is pretty good on the wing when you factor in his age. He proved that he can play center and the Blackhawks want another center beyond Connor Bedard.

If there's a season to experiment, it's the 2023-2024 season. Connor Bedard is a Blackhawk, the Hawks are more than likely getting another top 5 draft pick, and there won't be any playoff aspirations in any shape or form.

So what's the harm in just trying Reichel at center? If he's not a fit, no sweat. He proved he can play on the wing and score.

Right? What could go wrong?

The 2023-2024 Reichel

Surprise! It went very wrong.

Reichel started the '23-'24 season as a center. The expectation was that the coaching staff would leave him there as long as possible, for the sake of development.

In 47 games, Reichel has posted 3 goals and 6 assists. That's both as a wing and a center.

Reichel played 9 games as a center before the Hawks moved him back to the wing. He posted exactly 0 points during that stint. He was near the top of the team with shots on goal at 19 (4th highest), however, that doesn't tell you much other than poor luck or poor shot selection.

His 5v5 40.84 Corsi doesn't tell us much either because his linemates have been consistently bad. My point here is that with Reichel on the ice, you would expect the Hawks to have the puck more often than not.

Reichel's duties as a center included being defensively sound. The Hawks had 6.59 expected goals against (xGA) when Reichel was on the ice, 6th worst on the Hawks out of 23 players.

During these 9 games, the Hawks expected goals share percentage (xGF%) with him on the ice was only 38.06%. The actual goals share percentage was 0.

We hoped Reichel would play better with Bedard. How did that go?

Bedard and Reichel were on the ice together for 113 minutes. The Hawks had a 45.25 Corsi, a 40.33 xGF%, and a 30.77 GF% when both were on the ice.

Bedard helps Reichel's game out but Reichel doesn't do anything. The Hawks without both players are at a 45.56 Corsi, a 44 xGF%, and a 40.37 GF%.

So now we get to a point where Luke Richardson has tried everything under the sun to get this kid going.

Playing with Bedard didn't help him explode.

Reichel was healthy scratched three times and played on 4th line. And still, nothing.

Reichel can't get sent down to Rockford because our injuries are so bad that Kyle Davidson would have to replace Reichel with a homeless person living on Lower Wacker.

Nothing has sparked what Reichel was hyped to be. Since returning to the wing, Reichel has posted the following numbers. In 38 games he has a 41.87 Corsi, a 38.32 xGF%, and a 29.71 GF% (all 5v5).

The reality of his situation is a combination of many factors. He needs good players to play with to shine (who doesn't?), he is clearly in his head, and he's a young rookie forward having a bad season.

What does this leave us with? Do we panic?

The Reichel of the Future

No. Don't panic. Now is not the time for worrying.

At the start of the season, scouting reports had him projected to be a second-line winger.

As of right now, I don't see that happening. Does Reichel work on the bottom-6?

No. Reichel is not a bottom-6 player. He's not a grindy player. He's soft and lacks grit. What worked for him in Germany isn't translating to the NHL. This isn't new, by the way. European players often struggle with how physical/assertive you need to be in the NHL.

If not on the third line, where else does he fit? He has great skating and flashy skills that belong on the top-6.

Reichel only makes sense as a top-6 player; he lacks the skill-set for a bottom-6 player. That means if Reichel is here to stay, he has to prove he belongs on the top two lines.

Reichel's lack of production hurts his potential contract value, which is only bad for Reichel. This summer we can expect Kyle Davidson to sign Reichel on a short-term deal at 2 years. Reichel also will not be waiver-exempt next season.

The other option I have seen floating around the internet is to use Reichel as a trade piece.

He is not getting traded this year.

Reichel's production won't attract anything worthwhile. Davidson has also said that he is not giving up on Reichel. For an organization that preaches patience with player development, I would be very surprised if Reichel was traded this year.

Next year? If he doesn't improve you can expect a Reichel trade. I honestly see him valuing for a third round pick or for someone else's project.

As for the rest of this season, if the Hawks had the bodies, Reichel could benefit from playing some in the AHL. Merely for the sake of throwing anything at the wall to get him going.

I wouldn't be surprised if Reichel goes on a tear at the end of the season and make everyone think he's broken the snap.

Time will tell.