MILWAUKEE — Lukas Reichel should have shined bright in the Blackhawks’ final preseason game.
With the Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues holding back most of their NHL players, not risking much before the regular season opens, Reichel was one of the more experienced players to take the ice at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
On top of that, Reichel was slotted alongside Connor Bedard and Philipp Kurashev on a line. Reichel would have the chance to play with skilled players, play on the top power play and get plenty of ice time. He was set up to succeed.
But then, he didn’t.
Reichel was better than what he showed in his previous preseason games and had his moments. He was more aggressive in forechecking and backchecking. He had the puck a few times in dangerous positions. But Reichel still left the Blackhawks wanting more, seeking him to be more assertive, more selfish, more like the player they envision him to be.
“I thought tonight obviously the same as everybody else, skated well, took charge of a couple of rushes,” Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said after his team’s 6-2 win. “There was one rush where he had a real nice play and had a shot on net that just missed in the second period. There was one not long after that where I think he wanted to change it up and in his head he had his mind up that he was going to pass it, but I thought the option was to shoot it and he tried to force something through and it just didn’t get through. … I think we got to get them comfortable with it’s not being selfish, like I said, it’s being a team guy. You’re making the right play. I’d like to see him take that one more step.”
Part of the problem is the bar for Reichel to clear has been altered. Coming into last season, he was believed to be on the cusp of becoming a legitimate top-six forward, an early staple in the Blackhawks’ rebuild. Instead, he ended up back in the AHL. The Blackhawks were hopeful another long offseason would help him regain his confidence, develop more physically and pick up where he left off at the end of the 2022-23 season.
That hasn’t happened. If anything, his preseason has cast even more doubt upon him. When Richardson put out his likely season-opening lineup in Friday’s preseason game, Reichel was on the outside looking in as a scratch. Of course, that lineup got beat by the Minnesota Wild, 6-1, and it’s hard to say the Blackhawks would have been any worse with Reichel playing. Still, it was a sign of what the Blackhawks thought of Reichel’s training camp.
Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson obviously hasn’t written Reichel off. He wouldn’t have given Reichel a two-year extension with a $1.2 million cap hit if he didn’t Reichel still had a chance to turning his game around. But how much patience does Davidson have with Reichel? What lengths will the Blackhawks go to this season to try to reignite Reichel again?
Aside from Bedard, the 22-year-old Reichel is the only forward under 23 who will be on the Blackhawks’ NHL roster. While a lot of the Blackhakws’ roster is made up of players who are expected to be gone within a few years, Reichel is one of the few who could be part of the future if he can get back on track. But can he and what will it take? Sitting him won’t fix it. Playing him on the fourth line won’t fix it. But on the other hand, there’s a limit to how much he can be given because of how he looked two seasons ago. It’ll certainly be a conversation for Davidson and Richardson to have over the next few days.
Richardson described Reichel’s camp as up and down on Saturday. Richardson was favorable about Reichel’s performance Saturday, but was it enough to earn him a spot come Tuesday’s season opener? Richardson seemed to still be weighing that.
“I like some of his bursts tonight,” Richardson said. “I like the one rush. The second rush I’d really like him to shoot that. I think with his shot, if he gets two shots out of those two rushes, he has more chances to score or get a rebound assist or more O-zone time instead of turning around and chasing back. Which I did like his determination on his backcheck today, his hardness on stick battles. So tonight was his best showing. We might not be happy with and totally convinced with his total camp, but I think tonight was his best showing. I think that’s what we asked of him, so we got to be happy with that, and we’ll see where that leads us on Monday and Tuesday.”
right on target 🎯 pic.twitter.com/YH1OnJlczH
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 6, 2024
Fighting by Bedard not encouraged
Richardson would prefer Bedard not be in the middle of any more fights like the one late in Saturday’s game where he ended up scrapping with the Blues’ Zach Bolduc as both skated up the ice. Both players were called for roughing.
“I think Connor needs to stay out of that stuff if he could,” Richardson said. “But I like the thought process of it and his mentality that he’s not going to take anything from anybody out there and he’s here to stay and he wants to own his ground out there. But at the same point, you know in those type of things, guys fall down and get rolled over on, someone pops a shoulder or hurts a hand or twists an ankle. We can’t afford that, especially with a guy like that. You know just teaching him to manage those emotions and staying out of that. I think he’s obviously more important on the ice than off the ice. That’s probably never a good tradeoff for us.”
Bedard, of course, downplayed it. He did like to hear Kevin Korchinski was out there defending him and fighting as well.
“It’s hockey, it’s a physical sport, and it’s good to see for myself and for our whole team, obviously I was getting into it and then our whole team jumps in there,” Bedard said. “That’s the brotherhood you need and it’s cool to see Korch kinda chucking em. Well, I didn’t see it, but guys were telling me so I’ll watch it. … He was telling me he was pretty proud of it, so that’s good.”
was anyone looking for a Frank Nazar goal? pic.twitter.com/kBfS5DaPxy
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 6, 2024
Back to the IceHogs?
Frank Nazar and Korchinski are probably headed back to the Rockford IceHogs again, but Richardson liked what he saw from them.
On Korchinski, Richardson said, “I liked him. I liked his gaps, and he really surfed across and he’s not going to be the most physical guy. (Nolan) Allan’s more of a physical guy, Philly’s (Isaak Phillips) more of a physical guy. He’s more getting there, quick stabbing at the puck. I thought he had some really good turnovers for us off the other guys’ sticks right at our blue line, especially early in the game, the first two periods. And then I saw he had a great escape in the second period where he stole the puck behind our net.
“And I thought he was going to turn up, so did the whole forecheck, and he went back to his forehand, went around the net, took five steps, made a good first pass, and they were out of the zone. And that’s what a great offensive defenseman does. They get away from trouble, they take open ice and they make a good first pass.”
On Nazar, Richardson said, “Yeah, he just slipped a little bit once – slipped, meaning body position on the goal-against in the second period. He knew it. We talked about it before that four-on-four, you’ve got to put brakes on there in the D-zone, and just gave the guy a little too much room. The guy didn’t score, but the rebound scored. Other than that, I loved his acceleration on the breakaway, (was excellent. That’s NHL speed. Just honing in on a few little areas defensively, and using that speed within his game, and on a defensive role too, not just on an offensive role. And he does do that, but I think just on a consistent basis every shift.
“Like I said, the first two periods I thought were much better. I think in the third period, we all took the foot off the pedal a little bit, and we talked about we didn’t want to do that, so that’s still something with our team and our organization that we want to work on.
“But Frank had a good game, beautiful goal, and strong in a lot of areas, especially early in the game, that really helped propel our team. But just working on his complete game every shift.”
(Photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
