Reichel is playing

Blackhawks lines in practice, featuring first-line Reichel:

Strome-Reichel-Kane
DeBrincat-Toews-Kubalik
Borgstrom-Dach-Kurashev
Khaira-Carpenter-Entwistle

De Haan-Murphy
Stillman-Galvas
Gustafsson-Caleb Jones
Mitchell-Beaudin
- LAHawk

Charlie Roumeliotis
@CRoumeliotis
Derek King said Lukas Reichel will likely play a few NHL games then head back to Rockford to continue his development.

That’s the right call. #Blackhawks

With the type style of performance and his skill, Reichel is not going to be hurt or be frustrated by perhaps an early call up. He played with/against older competitors before and after his Blackhawks draft. This kid should probably not stay long, probably a cup of coffee now. The final week of season or roughly the final few games he could be recalled again, but Reichel should also be playing in the playoffs - for Rockford AHL - as Chicago parent team won't make post season

Not debating your points, all are valid. He has at least made the level of play on most evenings palatable as opposed to the embarrassment under JC. My question is this, if he is good enough to give a 2-3 year deal to develop players with a team short on NHL quality talent, why would you need to bring someone else in after that. You trust him to develop talent but not coach it to the next level once its developed?

So is King a "developer" and not a "strategist"? Also, the current narrative on the BOD is that the Hawks have consistently failed to develop their picks, wasn't King part of that equation in Rockford? SO he can develop at the NHL level but not AHL? or are we laying that all at the feet of Dent and previous coaches?
- TheTrob

Trob, simply I don't know how King fits other than what I've seen. I know he was coach at RKF and responsible for players developing. As far as I know in that capacity anyone that moved from RKF to CHI while he was there went to Colliton! He's never sent a player to anyone than Colliton.

So what kind of data can one glean from a coach sending a player up to Colliton as far as his ability to develop?

What I have seen is King at the NHL level who has been happy to delegate responsibility to his coaches, has created an atmosphere where players seem comfortable if not appreciative while doling out valuable ice time to prospects properly it seems all the while playing .500 hockey.

I'm not married to anything but like what I see so far as far as how the present and future is being managed at the NHL level by King......... And yes, until we see a much larger sample size we can't be sure of King the strategist of a team playing .650 hockey in important games in March. But today he seems a great fit for this team right now developing players.

Charlie Roumeliotis
@CRoumeliotis
Derek King said Lukas Reichel will likely play a few NHL games then head back to Rockford to continue his development.

That’s the right call. #Blackhawks
- LAHawk

Same way you get the benefit and knowledge of skating with a Chelios Reichel will too skating in NHL games. Experience the speed, power, size and skill of the NHL ....... Find a nice stretch of NHL games where the matchups fit Reichel, let him play and see where he's at in his own mind then send him down to work towards being an NHLer skating 20:00 a night on L1 and the 1st unit PP and PK.

After King was hired, the Hawks rode the new energy to 4 straight wins. Since then they have won 8 games (including 2 inOT and 2 in a shootout), and lost 12 (3 in OT). 8-9-3 is 19 points out of 40 possible. I agree that the team looks far better under King, and I like him. But, the roster is that of a non-playoff team. So I'd sign King to help develop the team for awhile, and reassess when they good again.
- mohel

As time goes by I get the feeling Danny and his boy will take the path of least resistance. The way things have progressed in the NHL under King I think Danny and Pops can easily justify signing King for 2 yrs in their own minds and as you say reassess in 2 yrs.

And I'm not sure if I agree or not admitting I like most everything King has done as the coach of the Hawks. ..... My hope??? That the new head of hockey ops from outside the organIzation makes that decision.

Alright we'll get to see Reichel, hearing nothing but good things about this kid.

I see Gustafsson is back on the ice, sigh, maybe we can get a 3rd round pick for him again

Charlie Roumeliotis
@CRoumeliotis
Derek King said Lukas Reichel will likely play a few NHL games then head back to Rockford to continue his development.

That’s the right call. #Blackhawks
- LAHawk

He also said "we've got to stick to the plan" - hopefully that doesn't mean there's ongoing debate about what the plan should be.

From John Dietz:

Patrick Kane's career shooting percentage is 11.7%
He connected a career low 7.9% last season
This season is even worse, 6.1%

That ranks 257th out of 293 forwards who have taken at least 40 shots on goal.

He also said "we've got to stick to the plan" - hopefully that doesn't mean there's ongoing debate about what the plan should be.
- pdx2ord

My conspiring mind thinks they brought Reichel up just in time for him to not consider playing in the Olympics. AHL players are eligible.

From John Dietz:

Patrick Kane's career shooting percentage is 11.7%
He connected a career low 7.9% last season
This season is even worse, 6.1%

That ranks 257th out of 293 forwards who have taken at least 40 shots on goal.
- scottak

Is it injury, old age or luck?

Is it injury, old age or luck?
- mohel

All of the above.

The way King has been using Borgstrom, the way he used Galvas, the way he's getting Strome to move his feet, Stillman/Slavin/Kurashev/Entwhistle it seems to me he's for the most part using/slotting these players properly allowing them to develop and or play towards their ceiling. That along with the near total disappearance of the clown show we saw regularly and getting a roster of bottom 6 players to play .500 hockey has me wondering.

Is King a guy you sign for maybe 2 yrs to continue what he's done, especially develop prospects, and in 3 yrs or so bring in an NHL coach who can get them from point B to point F when the roster is more talented?
- Mr Ricochet

I think all decisions should be predicated on the 23-24 season. If you sign King, limit it to one year. It’s not like he is in high demand.

Here you go Rico and other fancy stat guys,

https://twitter.com/WallM...d__cUgSzWPKD0mULMiAw&s=01

I'm guessing he's dressing for the next game

And Murphy being spaced between dull and bad, sounds about right
- BetweenTheDots

I say this without false self depricating humor, I am not smart enough to be a fancy stat guy but also believe as an NHL manager you can't survive without the fancies. ..... Sure the public sees corsi, shot share and xGF% but to achieve those numbers a true fancy stater has 64 indicator fancies that got a player to those numbers. My pickled mind is out of its league with a hard core fancy stater like LBR.

I'll share something some might find useful. I was given a game report from SPORTLOGiQ of a USHL game. SPORTLOGiQ is a service that provides mind numbing stats of a hockey game. I'm told it is extremely expensive by an employee of a USHL team.

There has to be 150 stats at least in this game report. To name just a few of them ES (even strength) screened shots on goal, ES shots on goal with no pressure and with pressure, ES shots from the top of the circle off the cycle, ES Dzone middle ice pass preventions, ES dump ins recovered, ES rim dump ins right side recovered, ES rim dump ins left side recovered, soft dump ins recovered, cross ice dump ins recovered, cross ice Dzone dump recovery and exit success %, ES same side breakout %, 1-2-3 pass breakout %, SOG on net against that were screened %, opposition SOG that were recovered and on and on, 150ish minute stats.

Didn't change my world but having heard that each team has their "own" set of stats for yrs but until I saw this game report I had no idea, and this is jrs!!

I'd imagine NHL organIzations are much more extensive that a crew of pointy heads scrub then enter the stats into software made just for them that all the hockey people evaluate. Each team has different systems so some stats mean little to a run and gun squad but mean everything to a trapping/counter attack club and vice versa.

As an old guy the eye test will always be my go to but I have embraced basic fancies to supplement the eye test but as that game report showed me there are some stats collected I had no idea were stats. ..... Sheds a whole new light on the game for me at a bunch of different levels.

He also said "we've got to stick to the plan" - hopefully that doesn't mean there's ongoing debate about what the plan should be.
- pdx2ord

Pretty sure King (or someone with the team) said that this was to get him a couple games and send him back down.

From John Dietz:

Patrick Kane's career shooting percentage is 11.7%
He connected a career low 7.9% last season
This season is even worse, 6.1%

That ranks 257th out of 293 forwards who have taken at least 40 shots on goal.
- scottak

Wow, funny. He is actually bad for the brand now.

Trob, simply I don't know how King fits other than what I've seen. I know he was coach at RKF and responsible for players developing. As far as I know in that capacity anyone that moved from RKF to CHI while he was there went to Colliton! He's never sent a player to anyone than Colliton.

So what kind of data can one glean from a coach sending a player up to Colliton as far as his ability to develop?

What I have seen is King at the NHL level who has been happy to delegate responsibility to his coaches, has created an atmosphere where players seem comfortable if not appreciative while doling out valuable ice time to prospects properly it seems all the while playing .500 hockey.

I'm not married to anything but like what I see so far as far as how the present and future is being managed at the NHL level by King......... And yes, until we see a much larger sample size we can't be sure of King the strategist of a team playing .650 hockey in important games in March. But today he seems a great fit for this team right now developing players.
- Mr Ricochet

At this point I do not mind King. One thing that has become completely obvious is that the makeup of this team is a bunch of mismatched parts, that I fault SB for building and also JC for not adjusting to try and match system to players as opposed to vice-versa. King at least seems to see where the deficiencies are and tries to put players in the best spot to succeed.

I am not a "point A to B" guy. If you're gonna hire a coach it should be done with the hope that they are the proper person to lead to the pinnacle, not as a placeholder. F the A to B, B to C. I want the A to C guy.

My conspiring mind thinks they brought Reichel up just in time for him to not consider playing in the Olympics. AHL players are eligible.
- LAHawk

Would an NHL team have to sign off and release one of their AHL farmhands like Reichel to play in the Olympics or is it strictly up to the player in response to an invitation from his own country?

Bringing him up for a few NHL games as a reward for good play in Rockford is a good gesture, gives him some exposure to the big leagues and also an NHL pay cheque.

Hawks have the Canadiens Thursday night who will be playing the 2nd game of a back-to-back. So that may be a win for the good guys, but you never know with this team. Then a home game Saturday versus a surprisingly good Anaheim team, then a 1 game road trip out to Seattle. No guaranteed victories there (remember the egg layed in Arizona last week), but surely possible.

Dehaan played a half way decent game. Maybe if he strings a few more together his trade value will increase from a 5th round pick to a 4th.
- boilermaker100

Never underestimate the stupidity of GMs. The corpse of David Savard got two pick at the TDL last season. Getting anything for deHaan is a win.

My conspiring mind thinks they brought Reichel up just in time for him to not consider playing in the Olympics. AHL players are eligible.
- LAHawk

Ohh - interesting theory - "Lukas, check out this dangling carrot over here!"

So in Bovquist's 20 minutes, did he really do anything that makes you say, wow what a mistake trading him? I know it is just one game, but every time he scores a goal, the Jones haters on the BOD sure want to point out that game. I am not saying he is bad, but I did not see any inkling of a 28 minute a night # 1 defenseman.

Even if the Hawks do not shake up their defense next year (except for losing daHaan, and not signing Gusto, it looks to me like

Stillman-S. Jones
McCabe-Murphy
C.Jones-Galvas/Mitchell/Kalnyuk

Beaudin/Regula/Phillips/Allen/Crevier at the rock

Maybe Kaiser/Vlasic signed as ELC's

My glass half-full (which it rarely is) says this is about as good a position the Hawks have been in on the back-end in years.
- LAHawk

By the same token, did anyone miss watching Jones back into the goalie's lap? Get caught up ice? I sure didn't.

Pretty sure King (or someone with the team) said that this was to get him a couple games and send him back down.
- Chunk

Yes, that seems to have been the rationale, but also that King is hoping that plan doesn't change if, for example, Reichel lights it up in NHL.

Keeps his head up and moves his feet and the puck quickly. And if this fails he has to roll off hits.
- paulr

You can bet teams will target Galvas in upcoming games. He did play well for sure.

Yes, that seems to have been the rationale, but also that King is hoping that plan doesn't change if, for example, Reichel lights it up in NHL.
- pdx2ord

I hope he struggles. Mainly because there is no reason to start the clock on his ELC for this season.

Ohh - interesting theory - "Lukas, check out this dangling carrot over here!"
- pdx2ord

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv9qaPAlK_g