It has been an eventful year for Canucks forward Lukas Reichel. Despite a solid start in limited action in Chicago, the Blackhawks had already decided that he was not going to be part of their long-term plans and moved him to Vancouver last month for a 2027 fourth-round pick. With the Canucks dealing with several injuries, he was a low-cost NHL-level replacement.
Unfortunately for him and the team, that hasn’t gone quite as planned. Reichel has been limited to just one assist in 13 games since the move and hasn’t even recorded a shot on goal in six straight contests. As a result, he found himself a healthy scratch in yesterday’s loss to Dallas.
With some players trending toward being closer to returning, it appears that Reichel might not be in Vancouver’s plans for much longer. In an appearance on Sportsnet 650 (audio link), CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal reported that the team has now made Reichel available and is okay with trying to move him.
While he spent a lot of his time with Chicago on the wing, Vancouver’s injury situation down the middle resulted in them trying Reichel at center, an experiment that clearly hasn’t worked out well given his struggles. On the other hand, he’s still just 23 and with a $1.2MM cap charge, he’s someone that a lot of teams looking for forward depth could realistically afford on their books.
Of course, with Reichel not performing well, it would seem like GM Patrik Allvin would be hard-pressed to acquire a replacement 2027 fourth-round pick for his services. But if it’s trending toward a situation where he’s on the outside looking in at a roster spot, the potential to get something over running the risk of losing him for nothing on waivers down the road might be worth looking into.
At the moment, Teddy Blueger (despite a recent setback) and Nils Hoglander are the forwards on IR who are closest to coming back. Meanwhile, Jonathan Lekkerimaki is currently with AHL Abbotsford on what feels like a conditioning stint and it’s likely he’ll be back up sooner than later. With 14 forwards on a full 23-player roster, each of those players will require another forward going down to make room.
At the moment, the only waiver-exempt forwards with the Canucks are Mackenzie MacEachern (who hasn’t played in ten games or been on the roster for 30 days since clearing waivers) and Max Sasson, who has played in all but three games this season. It’s a good problem to have but a roster crunch is on the horizon for Vancouver and it looks like Reichel could soon be one of the casualties.
Why did Patrik (I build expansion teams) Allvin acquire Reichel in the first place?
Allvin should stick to singing Christmas songs.
Hopefully Rutherford & Allvin stay in Vancouver for a while. The other teams need a patsy
Because they were desperate for a C and thought Reichel could be a good reclamation project. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
Yeah good luck moving him now. You’re stuck with him unless you take a crappy contract in return.
As someone who watches the games, he hasn’t looked *that* bad. You can kinda see the offensive potential, sometimes lol. Honestly though idk why they acquired him. He’s not a center. He doesn’t really fit anywhere.
This is ridiculous- he was played out of position for a dozen games and struggled; his confidence no doubt has hit rock bottom too. Build up his confidence with a stint in Abbotsford. You paid the freight and you should what he can do on the wing. Horrible asset mgmt again in Vancouver.
That was fast. He’s talented but there’s just something about him where he just doesn’t seem to be able to make it all work.
He may want to look into some European options at this point.
Lukas Reichel needs to go to a team that has a strong developmental system. He came out of Chicago’s developmental system which isn’t particularly strong at developing young talents as even Chicago’s own fans has criticized the matter. There are a number of teams with strong developmental systems and he needs to go to one of those organizations for a year and help get him more stable in honing his skillset for the NHL. He’s still relatively young so his development can still progress if in the right hands.