On Sunday, Ben Pope at the did his best to project the Blackhawks’ opening night lineup. I’m going to go into his lines/pairs more later, but there were a few things that he wrote when trying to put together a lineup that reminded me that there are some roster battles that are going to happen in camp that we might not be giving enough attention to (yeah, even in late-August).
There’s increasing buzz about how the Blackhawks’ blue line will sort itself out, with the focus of that conversation being around whether or not Kevin Korchinski starts the season in the NHL or AHL. But there’s another roster battle that continues to creep back into my thought process.
How and where does Lukas Reichel fit into the Blackhawks’ lineup? And… does he fit into it at all?
Pope has Reichel on the right wing of his third line (with Nick Foligno and Jason Dickinson). When explaining his second line of Taylor Hall—Andreas Athanasiou—Philipp Kurashev, Pope admits: “Reichel’s NHL future depends on him becoming a top-six forward, considering his playing style and stature, but he has demonstrated he cannot play center.”
When justifying Reichel with Foligno andꦚ Dickinson, Pope adds:
Reichel probably isn’t 🧸the correct answer, but the Hawks need him to straighten out his trajectory, and this type of stable situation with a respectab💧le amount of ice time could provide a good opportunity.
Joey Anderson, conversely, might be the right answe𝔉r — he and Dickinson enjoyed a 50.1% scoring-♉chance ratio in 523 minutes together last season — but the new additions could also make him the odd man out.
Welcome to an unheralded “rock meets hard place” spot for the Blackhawks’ coaches in training camp. I think everyone acknowledges that Reichel has the tools to be a top-six forward… but he hasn’t done it consistently yet. And now that the Blackhawks have other viable top-six options, he’ll have to earn it. Ironically, Reichel needs to have a big season the same way Kurashev needed to last year — and Kurashev did precisely that.
When I took an early shot at putting together forward lines for the Blackhawks this coming season all the way back on July 2, I actually didn’t have Reichel on any of my four lines. Because the Blackhawks have added players — specifically Teuvo Teräväinen and Ilya Mikheyev — who can play fast, produce points and have been known for their defensive acumen. The fact that Teräväinen, Kurashev and Mikheyev should all be playing a wing complicates matters for Reichel, who has not shown the ability to stick at center in the NHL.
Point being: it doesn’t look like there’s an easy path to a top-nine forward spot for Reichel. And that’s before we consider Frank Nazar potentially winning the s🐭econd-line center spot in camp (which is possible).
Reichel had a lot to prove last season — and got plenty of opportunities — but it didn’t go anywhere near as well as he or the organization would have preferred. Rockford shouldn’t be an option for him any longer; he would now have to clear waivers to be assigned to the AHL. So Reichel’s training camp performance may be as much for him for him to stick with the Blackhawks organization as it is him trying to carve out a role in the lineup.
