Zach Jarom: What To Do With Lukas Reichel

Great topic, Zach..... Not mentioned though was he was penciled in at center on L2 to start the season with inferior mates and facing the opponents better players.

I have to think the Hawks would have penciled him in as a winger if they had a do over., Kid is a quick twitch explosive athlete that can skate, has plus hands and is 21. Let em play RKF all yr and start a new come camp next yr.

It's in him. We all saw it in his late season callup last yr. It's up to the coaches to prepare and then slot him properly.

Sam Pollock, legendary Montreal GM, had a policy of never trading a prospect before his 23rd birthday.

Players develop at different rates, and growth isn't linear. Trading him now would be foolish, as he has no market value. Slow down, give him time.

There is literally no rush with this team right now. They are still trying to identify which players in their system are worth a damn and which ones aren't. Given this luxury, you don't cut bait on anyone right now.

The Hawks have an easy choice with him. You qualify him and let him play out next year (Rockford or Chicago should be determined by his play alone). If he struggles again, then you likely let him go and run the risk of him becoming the next Nick Schmaltz.

What cannot be understated is that the Hawks need much better complementary forwards next year. Running it back with a bunch of over slotted 3rd and 4th liners is only going to hold the young guys back from progressing.

Great topic, Zach..... Not mentioned though was he was penciled in at center on L2 to start the season with inferior mates and facing the opponents better players.

I have to think the Hawks would have penciled him in as a winger if they had a do over., Kid is a quick twitch explosive athlete that can skate, has plus hands and is 21. Let em play RKF all yr and start a new come camp next yr.

It's in him. We all saw it in his late season callup last yr. It's up to the coaches to prepare and then slot him properly.
- Mr Ricochet

I really don't think the center thing mattered one way or the other. He was tentative at both spots. I think the biggest issues are that his play got in his head and his line maters quickly got really bad and had almost no chemistry.

He was playing center in RFD because they wanted him to be a center and he said repeatedly that he wanted to (and should) be a center. I agree that he is likely a better winger, but it didn't hurt anything to see if he could cut it.

They'll give him another year to see if they can drag that potential out of him and if he doesn't show anything he'll be gone.

via GIPHY

Sam Pollock, legendary Montreal GM, had a policy of never trading a prospect before his 23rd birthday.

Players develop at different rates, and growth isn't linear. Trading him now would be foolish, as he has no market value. Slow down, give him time.
- scottak

I agree that the Hawks need to be patient with Reichel's development. They don't need Reichel to meet his potential this season or even next season. Reichel trade value is minimal, at best you'd get another former 1st round pick who hasn't made it yet. Might as well stick with the player the team knows.

If Reichel turns out to be a complete bust I don't think it hurts the club too much. I doubt they expected him to be much more than a supporting offensive player.

For now, keep Reichel in Rockford until he's shown consistent improvement on the things he's working on. If that's two weeks or through to next season it doesn't matter. Take the time that's needed for Reichel to develop properly.

Maybe he'll get the Kurashev treatment. It's not like there is someone in the system ready to take his spot. Sign him this summer for 1 year at around 1M, then he will be an RFA with arbitration rights the following summer. (Kurashev signed a one year deal also after his ELC then became arb eligible.) Depending how and if he develops, the Hawks will have the choice of not qualifying him, or signing him for a couple of years.

I just finished The Athletic article of players whio were "questionable selections" as it pertained to Trevor Connelly.

I might have even taken it to heart harder if Corey Pronman wasn't aprt of the creators.

There are instances from youth hockey about his bullying.
On another team, Connelly was suspended after urinating on another student’s belongings, among other alleged acts. One source said Connelly was acting in response to hazing that Connelly had received earlier. That source said he witnessed the hazing Connelly endured and also saw students tease Connelly about being hazed.
Trevor Connelly said in a statement: “At 14 years old, I was the victim of a humiliating hazing incident in my dorm room and then harassed about it afterwards. I reacted poorly to the situation with an immature act. While I took responsibility at the time, I regret and am embarrassed by how I handled myself.”


Not trying to be a poop here, but it's this how Corey Perry and others made a living in the league? (Well he /they ((No I do not think CP is transgendered...) didn't start in Anahiem smacking opponents off the ice, and slew footing them in practice, that we know of.One of Connelly's coaches described Connelly as a “good teammate.”

I am fairly certain that many teams carefully vet the kids that add to ensure they are team oriented prospects with good character in their close knit group.

Much of this backwash is from when Trevor Connelly was younger.
I just can speack for myself, that I am sure some saw me as a bully at that 14-16 gae, and I certainly played with guys who tried to bully while playing the sport(s), so I can't see where it doesn't exist in hockey or can I blindly excuse personalty, but my placement of Connelly at #14 slot on my board has nothing to do with these opinions in whole but because of his light size and need of muscle which to me knocked him down the board.

Now he later got suspended for a racial slur that DID happen.

“I believe in a path to redemption but it’s not my job to provide it,” said one scouting director. But another evaluator predicted Connelly will be chosen, just not as early as the rankings portend. “At one point the difference between him and the next guy will be too big,” said the scout. “All it takes is one team.”
Same thing I was relaying about the injured Jiricek..

I am not going to absolve my extended family who leaft the city in the White flight times in fear that "dem people - and the N were was simply part of all are vocabulary at times, not some random use.
(On the other side of that coin, my city of Chicago born wive's family never EVER used that talk or profanity, etc.)


I am curious what all your opinions are.
- wiz1901


In short, everything you grew up believing about team sports has been retroactively determined years later to have been wrong. Almost every coaching technique has been judged abusive to someone.

Some were indeed abusive, but the baby has been tossed out with the bathwater, imo.

Great topic, Zach..... Not mentioned though was he was penciled in at center on L2 to start the season with inferior mates and facing the opponents better players.

I have to think the Hawks would have penciled him in as a winger if they had a do over., Kid is a quick twitch explosive athlete that can skate, has plus hands and is 21. Let em play RKF all yr and start a new come camp next yr.

It's in him. We all saw it in his late season callup last yr. It's up to the coaches to prepare and then slot him properly.
- Mr Ricochet

Excellent point.

Great topic, Zach..... Not mentioned though was he was penciled in at center on L2 to start the season with inferior mates and facing the opponents better players.

I have to think the Hawks would have penciled him in as a winger if they had a do over., Kid is a quick twitch explosive athlete that can skate, has plus hands and is 21. Let em play RKF all yr and start a new come camp next yr.

It's in him. We all saw it in his late season callup last yr. It's up to the coaches to prepare and then slot him properly.
- Mr Ricochet

Yeah I think on paper it seemed like he was primed to break out and with the excitement of Bedard coming in it gave a good chunk of the fan base a false sense of hope things were going to be turned around fast. Personally I wasnt expecting him to be putting up big numbers this season but I was hoping for more. Once fans accept that we are still 2-3 years (being very optimistic) from taking that first step to being competitive I think the more forgiving they will be on players like Reichel who need a but more time to develop.

What a horrible game! The effort sucked. Reichel doesn't belong up here but neither do half of the other guys. It is time to shake up this lineup so that this team gets the message. I don't expect to win but at least try. They don't know how to pass. Accept a pass or when the puck is on your stick you shoot it. You don't wait for the goalie to get into position and then shoot it into his chest. AND HIT SOMEBODY! Don't just skate by them with your stick out. Look at film of the Carolina game and see how the game should be played.

After watching Reichel the second half of last season and the first few games of the year, I felt like he is a J.P Dumont-type prospect with an upside of Tuomo Ruutu type numbers (upper 50 points). He definitely did not seem to be a Kane, Toews, Bedard-type star though. Those are still decent 3rd line or occasional 2nd line numbers.

He was forced to play on a very very poor injury riddled team with less than ideal teammates. His linemates from last year, Raddyish, Kurashev and AA have much better skill than Entwhistle and Donato, his linemates from this year. He needs to be in the top two lines.

I wouldn't give up on him yet. Rossi is from the same class and is just now putting up rookie-of-the-year type numbers if Bedard wasn't in this year's race. They let him marinate long enough.

I really don't think the center thing mattered one way or the other. He was tentative at both spots. I think the biggest issues are that his play got in his head and his line maters quickly got really bad and had almost no chemistry.

He was playing center in RFD because they wanted him to be a center and he said repeatedly that he wanted to (and should) be a center. I agree that he is likely a better winger, but it didn't hurt anything to see if he could cut it.

They'll give him another year to see if they can drag that potential out of him and if he doesn't show anything he'll be gone.
- Chunk

To me it was just an unneeded risk to start Reichel off as a center. Not like they were short on them and with all the adversity the club knew the roster would face and no pressure to win why take the risk?

Guess we won't know but his results as an NHL winger last yr were pretty good for the then 20 yr old. Why deviate from what worked?

To me it was just an unneeded risk to start Reichel off as a center. Not like they were short on them and with all the adversity the club knew the roster would face and no pressure to win why take the risk?

Guess we won't know but his results as an NHL winger last yr were pretty good for the then 20 yr old. Why deviate from what worked?
- Mr Ricochet

Because this year (and the next two really) are about seeing what you have. He himself called it his favored position, and he played it in the AHL. I understand that confidence is a thing, but if it was as simple as moving from center to wing, at some point here the light would have turned on.

In his first stint, he had a lone assist playing wing (I believe). Is what it is. At the end of the day, Reichel is kind of the least of their worries. It's great if he works out, but they've just drafted a crap ton of forwards. They need to hit on a lot of them in order for this rebuild to go the way KD needs.

Plays always die on his stick this year even when there is no contact. As if his stick was greased. Hopefully he shakes this pattern off in Rockford because in the one period I watched in his first game there, he looked no different than he did here.

His supporters on this site and others however continuously excuse him while they crap on other members of this team.

If they could get the same return as they got for Dach, it would have happened by now. At what point do they owe it to him if there are other teams who want to try to revive his career? Is he a fit in this system? I hope he has a good stint in Rockford here. Next season, break him in with the new group. But I would imagine he will be called back up at some point just to see if any improvements stick at the NHL level.

His contract is up for renewal this summer, as an RFA, it should be noted.

Plays always die on his stick this year even when there is no contact. As if his stick was greased. Hopefully he shakes this pattern off in Rockford because in the one period I watched in his first game there, he looked no different than he did here.

His supporters on this site and others however continuously excuse him while they crap on other members of this team.
- 67hawks

Hey, we crap on everyone equally.

My only contention is that he's still 21 and there doesn't need to be any rush to judgement. They can qualify him at a very low number and see if the light goes back on next year.

Honestly, I think there is no rush to do anything with Reichel. I think the biggest problem has been putting him with 4th line plugs and expecting him to excel. Center or Wing, doesn't matter one bit IMO. Ideally I think they should have just left him at 2C and give him some decent wingers to help him, but that was a struggle with the lineup and injuries this season.

Bedard is an enormous talent and his transition to the NHL has been a no-brainer, but for other guys who are not superstars (like Reichel) we are going to see if this coaching staff can get them going. This coaching staff has really only had 3 rookie forwards play so far, Bedard, Reichel, and Guttman, and we've gotten mixed results from Reichel/Guttman so far. Neither one has really gotten going at the NHL level.

I like LR and that the team under him gives a solid effort, but I think the jury is out on how the development of the young forwards is going to translate until we see more than Bedard come up and have any level of success. This is a big part of how I think the coaching staff should be judged over the next season or two, it is their job to get this talent to translate to results on ice.

To me it was just an unneeded risk to start Reichel off as a center. Not like they were short on them and with all the adversity the club knew the roster would face and no pressure to win why take the risk?

Guess we won't know but his results as an NHL winger last yr were pretty good for the then 20 yr old. Why deviate from what worked?
- Mr Ricochet

It did seem like it was moving kind of fast to put him at center right away, and then they moved him to wing Nov. 1.

I would leave him at Rockford for the rest of the year, and then next year let him know that there is a spot available for him to earn. He could be penciled in (depending on results) to a lineup like:

Hall - Bedard - (veteran free agent)
Reichel- Athanasiou - Kurashev
Foligno - D!ckinson - Nazar

Leave the other young guys at Rockford:

Dach - Saarela - Rolston
Luypen - Ludwinski - Hayes
Savoie - Slaggert - Greene
Marcel²

Need about 6 or 7 more guys in CHI and ROC - they could select from the dude pile that they have:
T. Johnson - Katchouk - Raddysh - Entwistle - Guttman -
Blackwell - Beauvillier - Pitlick - Sanford - Teply -
Philp - Gust - Seney - R. Johnson - J. Anderson - Hardman -

Or just go out and get some new guys. Even next year they could sign some guys to flip at the deadline.

What a horrible game! The effort sucked. Reichel doesn't belong up here but neither do half of the other guys. It is time to shake up this lineup so that this team gets the message. I don't expect to win but at least try. They don't know how to pass. Accept a pass or when the puck is on your stick you shoot it. You don't wait for the goalie to get into position and then shoot it into his chest. AND HIT SOMEBODY! Don't just skate by them with your stick out. Look at film of the Carolina game and see how the game should be played.
- bjphawkfan

What more can they do? They've already switched all of the lines around, waived guys and/or sent them to Rockford. There is no one left to sub in. They simply don't have any NHL talent. Add in that Vlasic and Jones are currently struggling together and it's a recipe for disaster.

You said it already, they can't pass, accept a pass, or anticipate much. They are basically stuck playing "follow the puck and try hard".

Honestly, I think there is no rush to do anything with Reichel. I think the biggest problem has been putting him with 4th line plugs and expecting him to excel. Center or Wing, doesn't matter one bit IMO. Ideally I think they should have just left him at 2C and give him some decent wingers to help him, but that was a struggle with the lineup and injuries this season.

Bedard is an enormous talent and his transition to the NHL has been a no-brainer, but for other guys who are not superstars (like Reichel) we are going to see if this coaching staff can get them going. This coaching staff has really only had 3 rookie forwards play so far, Bedard, Reichel, and Guttman, and we've gotten mixed results from Reichel/Guttman so far. Neither one has really gotten going at the NHL level.

I like LR and that the team under him gives a solid effort, but I think the jury is out on how the development of the young forwards is going to translate until we see more than Bedard come up and have any level of success. This is a big part of how I think the coaching staff should be judged over the next season or two, it is their job to get this talent to translate to results on ice.
- breadbag

I agree, patience is the way to go especially for younger guys. With all of Reichel’s raw skills I think the team can wait to see if he can put it together. Of course if a team comes along and makes an offer you can’t refuse for Reichel, you make the deal.

I agree, patience is the way to go especially for younger guys. With all of Reichel’s raw skills I think the team can wait to see if he can put it together. Of course if a team comes along and makes an offer you can’t refuse for Reichel, you make the deal.
- paulr

I agree. I think his value is so low right now though it’s makes no sense for the Hawks not to be patient. Leave him in Rockford. Maybe bring him up last 10 games and put him on Bedards wing.

Plenty of NHL guys that don’t hit their stride until age 23-24. Reichel can still turn into a nice 2nd line wing.

I agree, patience is the way to go especially for younger guys. With all of Reichel’s raw skills I think the team can wait to see if he can put it together. Of course if a team comes along and makes an offer you can’t refuse for Reichel, you make the deal.
- paulr

Oh yeah, everyone has a price and sometimes players need a change of scenery. I'm hoping Reichel can get things together and find his role in the NHL, he seems like a good kid. I think there won't be a rush for at least another season or so. Exciting times ahead when more of the youth get NHL ready.

It did seem like it was moving kind of fast to put him at center right away, and then they moved him to wing Nov. 1.

I would leave him at Rockford for the rest of the year, and then next year let him know that there is a spot available for him to earn. He could be penciled in (depending on results) to a lineup like:

Hall - Bedard - (veteran free agent)
Reichel- Athanasiou - Kurashev
Foligno - D!ckinson - Nazar

Leave the other young guys at Rockford:

Dach - Saarela - Rolston
Luypen - Ludwinski - Hayes
Savoie - Slaggert - Greene
Marcel²

Need about 6 or 7 more guys in CHI and ROC - they could select from the dude pile that they have:
T. Johnson - Katchouk - Raddysh - Entwistle - Guttman -
Blackwell - Beauvillier - Pitlick - Sanford - Teply -
Philp - Gust - Seney - R. Johnson - J. Anderson - Hardman -

Or just go out and get some new guys. Even next year they could sign some guys to flip at the deadline.
- totem

Reichel - Athanasiou - Kurashev was the 2nd line at the start of camp this season.