x

Already member? Login first!

Comments / New

Evaluating Lukas Reichel’s second hockey season in North America

Posted on by L_B_R

As was mentioned in the Cole Guttman season review article, the Blackhawks haven’t been particularly good at keeping top-quality young forwards into their second contracts over the last decade or so. The hope that this trend will change in the near future, as Chicago looks to rebuild its roster – especially their core group  – in hopes of getting back to Cup contention down the line. Obviously, this core will be built around Connor Bedard, who the Blackhawks are expected to select with the No. 1 pick at the 2023 NHL Draft, but there are plenty of other forwards they need to develop to create a cohesive team.

Unfortunately, fans didn’t get to see many of those potential future players this season, but there were a few, including the current top Blackhawks forward prospect Lukas Reichel. He got an extended look in the NHL this season, and what we saw suggests he could be an important player for the Blackhawks.

Support Second City Hockey with a subscription!

Selected 17th overall in 2020, the Blackhawks have taken a patient approach in developing Reichel. He spent his first post-draft season playing for Eisbären Berlin in the DEL and then his second season was in the AHL with the Rockford IceHogs, honing his abilities in top-line roles with both organizations. Last season, Reichel did play 11 games with the Blackhawks and, while he showed obvious signs of skill, he had only one assist to show for his time. Reichel still spent most of his time with the IceHogs, cementing himself as a top player in the AHL, but he more than doubled his number of NHL games and he illustrated why he’s likely ready for a complete transition next season

Note: For those interested in Reichel’s AHL progress this season, please check out our articles that followed the prospects in Rockford:

Rockford IceHogs – Second City Hockey
A website for hockey fans, especially hockey fans of the Chicago Blackhawks
Second City HockeyDave Melton

Reichel spent 23 games with the Blackhawks split over three separate assignments, racking up 15 points (7 G, 8 A) in that span. The first call-up was for a single game while Chicago was on the road, the second was for three games in January when Reichel had his first multi-point game, and the final lasted 19 games through March and into April. It was in this last set of games that fans truly saw Reichel become more comfortable and confident – especially in the final eight games, when he played at a point-per-game pace (4 G, 4 A).

The overall 0.65 points-per-game rate is pretty solid for any rookie, especially considering Reichel spent much of his time with the Blackhawks after their best offensive players – Patrick Kane and Max Domi – were already gone. The three January games were with Domi while Kane was out with an injury, but the 19 games in the last quarter of the season were played primarily with Andreas Athanasiou, Philipp Kurashev, and Anders Bjork. Athanasiou is a good middle-six player, but the other two are still unproven in the NHL.

Looking closer at the details of Reichel’s offense at 5-on-5, it’s mostly positive as well, though there are some areas for improvement. His 1.77 points per 60 was only a little below Kane’s 1.81, so he’s already off to a good start in terms of being able to convert and help his teammates do so. His contribution to goals was 64.29 percent, which is above average but not as high as expected of a player who tends to be involved in offense as much as Reichel does.

His shooting habits could use some tweaking to get even more out of him from a goals perspective: he only shot at a rate of 6.11 shots per 60 (just below average) and his expected goals per 60 rate was 0.66 (just above average but could be better). Now, the latter is actually exactly the same as Kane last season and not far off what Kane typically averages, but Reichel’s shot isn’t as good as Kane’s in general, so it’d be better if Reichel could shoot both at a higher volume and from more high-danger areas to increase the probability of scoring. His scoring chance rate (7.1 per 60) was still high, but that was further indication of shooting from mid-range rather than in-close as a whole. Reichel has shown a willingness to get up in a goalie’s business, he just needs to do it more consistently – especially because he’s got the hand-eye coordination to score some tipped goals.

In terms of playmaking, this is where Reichel showed flashes but didn’t have the underlying results you’d expect from a player with his passing ability. He ended up with just 2.39 primary shot assists per 60, well below average and actually one of the worst on the Blackhawks. We saw two former Chicago first-round picks – Teuvo Teräväinen and Nick Schamltz – struggle with this initially in the NHL as well, so don’t read into it too much, but the rate is still disappointing. Interestingly, when Reichel did connect with his teammates, the quality of the shots they got off was decent: his scoring chance assist rate (2.39 per 60) is only a little below the average of 2.7. With better linemates, there’s high probability that Reichel can become quite the effective playmaker in the NHL.

Watching Reichel skate, it’s easy to see that he can be a strong transition player, especially when contributing to offense. His rush offense alone this season is a good indication of things to come in the future: not only did he individually have 11.96 shots per 60 off the rush, 3.98 of his entries per 60 led to a scoring chance for himself or a linemate – both above average. On top of that, Reichel’s carry-in percentage was 62.5, well above average and third behind Domi and Athanisou. There was one major negative to his offensive transition performance, though, and that was in terms of quantity, as his rate of 12.76 was quite low. That’s something that should improve with more experience.  

On the opposite end of the transition spectrum, Reichel was pretty solid in the defensive zone and helping the team exit from there. He had a rate of 7.18 exits with possession per 60 – not only the best on the Blackhawks, but solidly above average based on the rest of the league. He had 2.17 turnovers per 60 overall at 5-on-5, but most of those actually occurred away from the defensive zone where his turnover rate was just 0.89, which is extremely good. His retrieval numbers that led to exits were just a smidge below average at 3.98, but considering Reichel has been a smart forechecker and back-checker most of his hockey career – including in the AHL – that’s a good starting point for him.

Visit the Second City Hockey Store!

The physicality of the NHL is going to be something Reichel has to be a bit more prepared for in the coming years. Typically, he prefers to avoid being hit and uses good positioning and a smart stick when checking, but adding some strength would definitely help him with puck battles. There were a few instances of Reichel being overpowered by stronger opponents.

A lot of this is very positive, but expectations probably do need to be checked when it comes to Reichel. While there is a chance that he’ll be a top-line player, his current projections are more in line with a future as a second-liner. Reichel’s progress has been year-over-year positive, with his future spot likely in the top-six but not necessarily as a star, so any evaluations of him next season should bear that in mind as he hopefully transitions into the NHL full time next season. Either way, it should be fun to watch Reichel in the coming years with the Blackhawks, especially as other young players will be playing with him: – see the throwback below to Kevin Korchinski connecting with Reichel in the preseason.

Talking Points