The Canucks announced Friday that they’ve acquired forward Lukas Reichel from the Blackhawks in exchange for a 2027 fourth-round pick. They announced shortly before the move that center Teddy Blueger has been placed on injured reserve, retroactive to Sunday, as the corresponding transaction.
It is not at all the return on investment Chicago hoped for when they made Reichel the 17th overall pick of the 2020 draft. Now 23, Reichel made his NHL debut in 2022, amid a spectacular rookie season in the AHL that saw the German forward notch over a point per game with the Rockford IceHogs. Reichel got a more extended look in Chicago’s lineup the following season and looked like the future top-six fixture they hoped he’d be. He turned in seven goals and 15 points through 23 games, averaging 16:22 of ice time per night and leading the team in points per game among players who finished the season in the organization.
Once Reichel first broke camp with the Blackhawks in 2023-24, though, the regression was quick and steep. Reichel was initially slotted as the No. 2 center behind Connor Bedard, but that experiment ended quickly as he was getting caved in defensively and barely generating offense. He finished the season with just five goals and 16 points in 65 appearances and was sent back to Rockford later to boost his confidence, managing three goals and 12 points in 14 combined regular-season and playoff games.
Last year was a slight improvement, but not enough to truly boost his standing in the organization. He was still an occasional healthy scratch and saw his ice time slashed to under 12 minutes per game, although he did make a career-high 70 appearances. That came with a slight bump in offense in his reduced role, managing an 8-14–22 scoring line, but he still had negative defensive impacts and won just 39.9% of his faceoffs as he spent most of the year down the middle. That turned into Chicago making Reichel available for trade over the offseason and even mulling placing him on waivers late in training camp, but he stuck with the team on opening night.
Reichel was scratched for three of the Blackhawks’ first four games but played in four straight to end his tenure in Chicago. That streak included a two-goal, three-point effort against the Blues back on Oct. 15 in a season-high 13:11 of ice time. That gives him four points in five games on the year, all at even strength, despite averaging under 10 minutes per game.
That’s an intriguing taste of the upside Vancouver is now betting on. While a natural left-winger, Chicago tried Reichel at center multiple times. With the Canucks’ depth issues down the middle behind Elias Pettersson and the oft-injured Filip Chytil, it stands to reason they’d prefer to keep Reichel down the middle. Since Chytil is currently out of the lineup with an upper-body injury, there’s a prime opportunity for Reichel to have his leash removed and immediately jump into a second-line role on a trial basis, likely between veterans Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser.
It’s a no-risk pickup for Vancouver, who can walk away from Reichel next summer if he doesn’t pan out by not issuing him a qualifying offer. He’s in the back half of a two-year, $2.4MM deal he signed with Chicago in 2024 that carries a cap hit of $1.2MM.
Blueger has been placed on IR with an undisclosed injury in a corresponding move. That designation is retroactive to Ocotber 19th, which will force Blueger out of Vancouver’s Saturday matchup against the Montreal Canadiens. He could be activated ahead of Sunday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers, though that would require the canucks to send another player to the minor-leagues. Blueger scored one goal in two games before falling to injury. He has been a core piece of Vancouver’s fourth-line for the last two seasons, and should slot back into the lineup as soon as he’s back to full health.
The Canucks are currently carrying Arshdeep Bains and Joseph LaBate as their extra forwards. Both players would require waivers to be sent to the AHL. Extra defenseman Tom Willander would not require waivers, though Vancouver could want to avoid reassigning one of their top prospects before awarding him with his NHL debut.
Photo courtesy of Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports.
Ugh. Brutal. Not sure I would’ve taken that. Way more risk for virtually zero reward.
The return is playing time for other prospects. Reichel needed a change of scenery and the draft pick is the kind of thing that can bring a rental player at the deadline. Reichel has talent but his inconsistency was frustrating here. Maybe somewhere else is what was needed. The Hawks certainly don’t need a ton of draft picks anymore. He’s not a bad guy so I wish him all the best.
What kind of loser are you? “Way more risk” a future 4th round pick for a player who desperately needs a change of scenery. The fact you replied within seconds of the story being posted only further proves you have absolutely nothing to do with their time.
Calm down, dude. Jeepers.
A great move. More teams need to realize just how bad Blackhawks are at development and grab other “failed” prospects.
Saw the Power rankings and had to laugh my ___ off. Whatever moron did that listed the Blues ahead of the Hawks even though the Hawks beat their brains in at their own building and have a better record. Respect comes slowly in this league I guess.
This is why I never put any stock into power rankings. Subjective lists created for click bait to generate traffic on their site. You can always tell when people put lists together based on their limited knowledge of what each teams roster is, what they are expected to do, and taking a quick look at the standings
Yeah just ignore them. Devils had best record in the league at time of release and have had a brutal starting schedule but 5th. Meanwhile vegas who almost lost to the sharks are first. It’s just a couple of people’s pipedream, nothing more.
Wish him the best going forward. Reichel is a good kid with lots of skill but he is VERY inconsistent with his play. He’s been given chances up and down the lineup and never could put more than a game or maybe two together at a time before his play would dip and become inconsistent again. With the amount of prospects coming up in the organization the writing has been on the wall for awhile now. This gives him a chance to possible show another coaching staff and organization what he can do and maybe that will help things click for him as does from time to time for guys. At worst, you got an effective bottom six guy who will pop every once n awhile for ya
Watched the game last night, Donato is playing at a higher level so far this season. In fact, the entire team was inspired last night, best game of the year. Spencer continues to show that he’s becoming one of the top G’s in the league, clearly giving the entire team a boost in confidence.
Probably clears the decks for a promotion for Oliver Moore who clearly belongs in the NHL. Moore’s talents are needed because Dickinson seems ticketed for IR and Moore is great on the PK and faceoffs. In fact if I had to list the Hawks MVP’s so far this year I would put them at Knight, Rinzel and Mikheyev. Knight has been good so far but against Tampa he was pretty lucky. They must have hit iron like 5 times.
Not Nazar? He’ll be captain of that team sooner than later.
Nazar and Bedard have been as expected. Mikheyev has been a force on the PK and as many penalties as the Hawks have had to kill he’s been exceptional. The officials have been so bad it’s a joke. The Canadiens flopped so many times against the Hawks I’m surprised the ice didn’t melt.
Not a good day to be Arshdeep Bains.