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Lukas Reichel

Evening Notes: Reichel, Sharangovich, Lightning

October 24, 2025 at 6:58 pm CDT | by Bradley Keith Leave a Comment

Having been dealt today to Vancouver in exchange for a 2027 fourth-round pick, Pierre LeBrun of TSN had an interesting note on Lukas Reichel, that the former top prospect had asked for a trade out of Chicago. Lebrun added that according to Reichel’s agent, it had been a long-time discussion, but that things were amicable as both sides worked peacefully through the process. 

As has been discussed, a fourth-round pick may feel underwhelming for Chicago fans, but the German native has just not been able to establish himself, never surpassing the 22-point mark in a season. On the flip side though, Reichel, still just 23, seems like a very solid low-risk addition for Vancouver. Even if the change of scenery does not pan out into Reichel becoming a true top-six forward, his skating ability and effort level could be useful in any team’s bottom six. Many in his mold have evolved and simplified their games to stick in the NHL, and it will be interesting to see what comes of the former first-round pick. 

Elsewhere across the league:

  • Derek Wills, voice of the Calgary Flames, shared today that Yegor Sharangovich is expected to draw back into the lineup tonight in Winnipeg. The forward was scratched for the last two games, after putting up just one assist in 6 games. Given the brutal start for Calgary so far, currently last in the league, there is perhaps nothing to lose to try and get the skilled winger going, who broke out two years ago as a Flame, scoring 31 goals. Especially as Sharangovich seems set in Calgary for the foreseeable future, in year one of a five-year contract worth $5.75MM per year. 
  • The Tampa Bay Lightning have re-assigned Scott Sabourin to AHL Syracuse, and in a corresponding move, they welcomed back Zemgus Girgensons, who has been activated, as Head Coach Jon Cooper told Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times. Girgensons is expected to make his season debut tomorrow. Meanwhile Sabourin, 33, will bring a veteran presence and a physical edge to the Crunch. He did not appear in a game for the Bolts, but the undrafted grinder has 47 NHL games to his name. Off to a poor start, Tampa Bay will look to turn the corner and silence any early speculation that the club’s long sustained success may be on the downturn. 

AHL| Calgary Flames| Chicago Blackhawks| NHL| Tampa Bay Lightning Lukas Reichel| Scott Sabourin| Yegor Sharangovich| Zemgus Girgensons

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Canucks Acquire Lukas Reichel

October 24, 2025 at 2:42 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 25 Comments

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.

Chicago Blackhawks| Newsstand| Transactions| Vancouver Canucks Lukas Reichel| Teddy Blueger

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Snapshots: Reichel, McDavid, Koumontzis

September 30, 2025 at 8:00 pm CDT | by Ethan Hetu 3 Comments

The Chicago Blackhawks have been active in recent days “engaging with teams” in trade talks centered around forward Lukas Reichel, according to Bleacher Report’s Frank Seravalli. Per Seravalli, the Blackhawks are “working on a deal” that will allow Reichel to land with another team within the next week and give the player a fresh opportunity with another club. Seravalli added that the expected trade will most likely not return anything of significant value to the Blackhawks – likely a mid-to-late-round draft pick – but is instead more about giving the player the chance to reset his NHL career in a new organization.

Such an outcome would be a disappointing end to Reichel’s tenure in Chicago, as the player once looked to be one of the club’s more promising young talents. The 2020 first-round pick had 15 points in 23 NHL games to close out the 2022-23 NHL season, and the year before had 57 points in 56 games in the AHL, extremely impressive numbers for a rookie forward still adjusting to the North American game. But Reichel was not able to build on that momentum, and for the last two years he has struggled to produce at the NHL level. As for where Reichel might be headed, that remains unclear at this time, but Sportsnet’s Mark Spector wrote today that the Edmonton Oilers will “for sure” have interest in acquiring the player. Oilers GM Stan Bowman led the Blackhawks Hockey Operations department that drafted Reichel, and could still be a believer in his NHL potential.

Some other notes from across the NHL:

  • With Minnesota Wild superstar Kirill Kaprizov now signed, focus has shifted to other pending UFAs, including Connor McDavid, who is the consensus best hockey player on Earth. Chris Johnston said today on TSN’s Insider Trading that McDavid is not interested in signing an eight-year contract as Kaprizov did today, and is instead focused on signing a “two, three, or four-year contract.” With the salary cap set to rise dramatically over the next few years, it is surely financially sensible for McDavid to seek a contract that would allow him to ink a new contract at the age of 32 – when he’s still within, or very close to, his athletic peak. In addition, such a move might be sensible for his aim of winning a Stanley Cup, as a shorter-term contract would provide him with the flexibility to leave Edmonton should the franchise’s status as a true Stanley Cup contender begin to erode.
  • Former Calgary Flames 2018 fourth-round pick Demetrios Koumontzis signed a one-year contract with the ECHL’s Greensboro Gargoyles today, officially ending the player’s stint with the Idaho Steelheads. Koumontzis began his professional career at the end of the 2022-23 season with Idaho, signing there after a solid five-year NCAA career with the Arizona State Sun Devils. Koumontzis scored 15 goals and 39 points across 92 games for the Steelheads, and will now join a Gargoyles team embarking on its inaugural season.

Chicago Blackhawks| ECHL| Edmonton Oilers| Snapshots Connor McDavid| Demetrios Koumontzis| Lukas Reichel

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Blackhawks Still Shopping Lukas Reichel

September 29, 2025 at 8:14 am CDT | by Josh Erickson 7 Comments

The Blackhawks have made clear that 2020 first-round pick Lukas Reichel is available for trade “even in the last few days,” Scott Powers of The Athletic writes. Teams had been semi-fervently calling Chicago about Reichel’s availability earlier in the offseason, too. Still, he ended up remaining with the organization for a pivotal training camp that kicked off earlier this month.

Those rumors come after a pair of seasons in which Reichel has been given the opportunity higher up in the Hawks’ lineup but failed to establish himself there. He even started the 2023-24 season as the No. 2 center behind Connor Bedard but found himself quickly demoted in the lineup after a woefully unproductive start. That trend continued in 2024-25, where he quietly managed to establish his floor as an effective fourth-line piece. He spent a significant amount of time sheltered between veterans Pat Maroon and Craig Smith, actually seeing an uptick in offensive production compared to the previous year, with an 8-14-22 scoring line in 70 games. He saw just 11:55 of ice time per night and had slightly improved possession metrics compared to the previous year, despite facing more difficult defensive assignments.

That’s still not at all what the Hawks envisioned when making him the No. 17 overall pick five years ago. The 23-year-old came into the league as a highly-touted sniper with utility at center and on the wings. He looked to realize that potential in a later-season call-up from AHL Rockford in 2022-23, when he managed a 7-8–15 scoring line in just 23 appearances down the stretch and looked at home in a top-six role.

That ceiling has eluded him ever since. He now requires waivers to go to Rockford for a reset. Understandably, the risk of losing a recent first-round choice for no compensation isn’t a risk general manager Kyle Davidson has been too keen on taking. Still, it’s one he’s at least considering if Reichel doesn’t crack their opening night roster and a trade doesn’t materialize, Powers writes.

That said, Windy City-area observers note Reichel has put his best foot forward in this year’s camp. It’s also worth reading between the lines, as Powers points out, that Reichel hasn’t received many reps in bottom-six roles. A top-six one seems unlikely with André Burakovsky and Ryan Donato settling in as Bedard’s initial linemates through most of camp. Tyler Bertuzzi, Frank Nazar, and Teuvo Teräväinen are widely expected to comprise the Hawks’ second line. That leaves him out of the opening night lineup, but it may not leave him off the roster if Chicago decides to stash him in the press box to open the campaign as they did last year.

“If Reichel played the way he did in the first two preseason games in a past camp, the conversation around him might be different,” Powers wrote. “But the Blackhawks’ patience with Reichel has changed in that time, and the organization brought in many more hyped prospects since then. The Blackhawks aren’t just looking for positive signs and hoping Reichel will figure it out in the NHL any longer.” Therein lies the danger of a scorched-earth rebuild – prospects are under pressure to develop quickly, or they might be promptly replaced by a new wave of multiple high-end first-rounders and squeezed out of a role.

Chicago Blackhawks Lukas Reichel

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Afternoon Notes: Thompson, Reichel, Ovechkin

September 7, 2025 at 5:58 pm CDT | by Gabriel Foley 6 Comments

It has been an up-and-down year for Buffalo Sabres star Tage Thompson. He was excluded from Team USA’s roster at the Four Nations Face-Off in February, prompting a monster run through the rest of his games last season. He scored 33 goals in 57 games following the mid-year break, then added nine points in 10 games at the summer’s World Championship, including the decisive goal to earn the United States their first Gold Medal in recent history. As part of an extended interview, Thompson told Michael Russo of The Athletic that he’s hoping that goal can advance his spot on the watchlist as the USA prepares for the Olympics. He said:

I would hope scoring that goal would make a difference, but it’s also one play. It doesn’t define me as a player or mean that I had a great tournament or anything by that means… I want to be an Olympian, but getting the Sabres back into the playoffs is always at the forefront.

Thompson is undoubtedly one of America’s biggest scoring threats. His 120 goals in 225 games is the second-most from any American in the NHL since 2022, behind only Auston Matthews (142 goals in 222 games). Thompson has managed that feat despite playing for the only team to score more than 800 goals, and still get outscored, in the same timeframe. He’s the standing pillar of a struggling team, a point made literal by Thompson’s 6-foot-6, 220-pound frame. The United States tied Canada for the most goals (10) during their three games at the 4-Nations Face-Off. Adding a player of Thompson’s caliber to the lineup could be enough to will the Americans over their rival on the biggest stage next February.

Other notes from around the NHL:

  • Chicago Blackhawks winger Lukas Reichel told Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun Times that he hasn’t been able to dodge trade rumors – even hearing them on the streets of his native Germany. Despite that, Reichel emphasized that his focus is squarely on carving out a big role with the Blackhawks next season. He scored a career-high eight goals and 22 points in 70 games last season, but still seems well capable of achieving more. The Blackhawks will have plenty of new faces challenging Reichel for minutes next year, including newcomer Andre Burakovsky and rookies Oliver Moore and Landon Slaggert. That competition will push Reichel to a breaking point. If he can show his might in the NHL, he’ll earn a strong role in the middle-six. If not, he could soon find a path away from the Blackhawks organization.
  • NHL legend Alex Ovechkin has departed from his native Russia to return to the United States for the 2025-26 season, shares Sammi Silber of The Hockey News. Ovechkin will kick off his 21st season in the NHL when he lands back in Washington D.C. That mark will make him one of just 42 NHL players to appear in at least 21 seasons. The future Hall-of-Famer broke the league’s record for all-time goals last season, en route to an incredibly 44 goals and 73 points in just 65 games. It will be hard to relieve those numbers as he inches as he prepares to play in his age-40 season. Even then, managing even half of that scoring pace would put Ovechkin on pace for the highest-scoring age-40 season since Teemu Selanne posted 80 points in 2010-11.

Buffalo Sabres| CHL| Chicago Blackhawks| NHL| Olympics| Players| Rookies| Team USA| Teemu Selanne Alex Ovechkin| Lukas Reichel| Tage Thompson

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Trade Interest In Lukas Reichel Increasing

June 28, 2025 at 8:17 am CDT | by Brian La Rose 11 Comments

Last summer, Blackhawks forward Lukas Reichel was a speculative trade candidate but he wound up signing a low-cost, two-year bridge deal to remain with Chicago.  But after the first year of that contract didn’t go well, the trade speculation is back.  Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports that interest in Reichel has started to pick up in recent days with teams viewing him as more of a secondary target at this point.

The 23-year-old was a first-round pick by Chicago back in 2020, going 17th overall after playing well with Eisbaren Berlin in the German men’s league when he had 24 points in 48 games.  That improved to 27 points in 38 outings the following season before Reichel came to play in North America.

Reichel spent the bulk of the first season of his entry-level deal with AHL Rockford and was quite productive, tallying 21 goals and 36 assists in 56 games while also getting into 11 games with the Blackhawks.  The following year in 2022-23, he was similarly productive with the IceHogs, notching 20 goals and 31 helpers in 55 contests, earning him a longer look with the big club where he got into 23 games, collecting 15 points.  It looked like he was ready for full-time NHL duty.

But the 2023-24 campaign was a tough one for Reichel.  He struggled with Chicago, scoring just five goals along with 11 assists in 65 games while his possession numbers took a tumble as well.  He was more productive with eight points in a ten-game stint in Rockford but at this point, there were questions about his longer-term fit in the organization with the Blackhawks having one of the deepest pipelines in the NHL.

Those questions still remain after this season, one that saw Reichel only slightly improve offensively with eight goals and 14 assists in 70 games while seeing his ice time drop to below 12 minutes a night, a career-low.  With several prospects in the pipeline that could benefit from an extra roster spot to try to compete for, it’s understandable to think that Chicago could make Reichel available this summer.

Of course, with how things have gone the last two seasons, trade offers aren’t going to be anywhere near the level of the first-rounder they used on Reichel in the past.  But with an affordable contract at $1.2MM, he’s the type of buy-low candidate that some rebuilding teams will want to take a chance on to see if a change of scenery can help get him going.  Whether that results in a trade later today in the draft or later on in the summer once the dust settles remains to be seen but it certainly seems like there’s a good chance that Reichel could be on the move this offseason.

Chicago Blackhawks Lukas Reichel

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World Championship Notes: Hischier, Reichel, Hertl, Lauko

May 17, 2025 at 11:49 am CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Switzerland will be without one of their top players for the rest of the World Championship as Devils team reporter Amanda Stein relays (Twitter link) that Nico Hischier has been ruled out due to a muscular injury.  He picked up two goals and an assist in four outings before suffering the injury, one that’s not believed to be a long-term concern and that his sitting for the rest of the event is largely precautionary.  Hischier had a career-high 35 goals this season in New Jersey along with 34 assists in 75 games while logging over 20 minutes a night for the first time in his eight-year NHL career.

More from the Worlds:

  • Germany winger Lukas Reichel won’t play in the rest of the event due to an injury sustained on Tuesday, reports Scott Powers and Mark Lazerus of The Athletic (subscription link). It’s expected he’ll need more time beyond that to recover but he is expected to get close to a full offseason of training in.  The 23-year-old is coming off a disappointing season with the Blackhawks, one that saw him record just eight goals and 14 assists in 70 games while seeing his playing time drop below 11 minutes per game.
  • Czechia won’t be getting one of their top players for a late-tournament addition. Hokej.cz’s Jakub Ruc relays that Golden Knights forward Tomas Hertl did not receive medical clearance from the team to permit him to play the final few games of the event.  Hertl suffered an upper-body injury late in the regular season and it’s unclear if that’s the injury that will hold him out or if it was something different altogether.  After putting up 32 goals and 29 assists in 73 games this season, Hertl certainly would have been a big addition for the Czechs heading into the medal round.
  • Also from Ruc, winger Jakub Lauko is dealing with a jaw injury that will keep him out of the lineup for the time being but he is expected to be back before the end of the tournament. The pending restricted free agent was acquired by the Bruins near the trade deadline for his second stint with the team and had five goals and six assists in 56 games between Boston and Minnesota this season.

Boston Bruins| Chicago Blackhawks| New Jersey Devils| Vegas Golden Knights Jakub Lauko| Lukas Reichel| Nico Hischier| Tomas Hertl| World Championships

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Blackhawks Notes: Levshunov, Brossoit, Reichel

September 20, 2024 at 7:29 pm CDT | by Josh Cybulski 3 Comments

Ben Pope of The Chicago Sun-Times tweeted that Chicago Blackhawks defensive prospect Artyom Levshunov is about four weeks away from returning to action. This year’s second overall pick hurt his right foot blocking a shot on September 11th but could start skating again in a week or so if all goes well between now and then.

The 18-year-old missed the Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase last week and will miss the start of the season given the most recent timeline. He was already a long shot to make the Blackhawks NHL roster and will almost certainly start the season with the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs, given the injury.

In other Blackhawks notes:

  • Blackhawks netminder Laurent Brossoit is reportedly on a similar timeline to Levshunov and isn’t expected to get back into the lineup for another four weeks (as per Ben Pop of the Chicago Sun-Times). Broissoit underwent meniscus surgery on his right knee in late August and was expected to recover in 5-7 weeks. The 31-year-old was rock solid as the Winnipeg Jets backup last season, posting a 15-5-2 record with a .927 save percentage. Given the timeline, Broissoit will likely miss the first week or two of the regular season.
  • Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson expects that forward Lukas Reichel will compete for a top-six spot this season (as per Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago). Davidson told reporters that the team doesn’t want the 22-year-old playing fourth-line minutes this season and would like to see him figure out a way to cement himself on the top two lines. Reichel has had an uneven start to his NHL career notching 15 points in 23 games during an abbreviated run in 2022-23 but watched his offensive numbers fall off a cliff during his first full NHL season last year. The Nurnberg, Germany native posted just five goals and 11 assists in 65 games last season but still demonstrated the solid skating and strong hockey sense that made him the 17th overall pick in 2020.

Chicago Blackhawks Artyom Levshunov| Laurent Brossoit| Lukas Reichel

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Morning Notes: Brindley, Soucy, Reichel, Rangers

May 13, 2024 at 10:33 am CDT | by Gabriel Foley 7 Comments

Team USA has added Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Gavin Brindley to their World Championship lineup, per Steven Ellis of the Daily Faceoff (Twitter link). Brindley becomes the fourth collegiate athlete to join the squad, stepping into a room with World Juniors teammates Will Smith, Ryan Leonard, and Trey Augustine. The quartet played a major role in USA’s drive towards the 2024 World Juniors Gold Medal – and they’re now rewarded with an opportunity with the Men’s National Team. Brindley isn’t expected to line up for USA’s Monday matchup against Team Slovakia, instead joining Leonard and Matt Kessel as the team’s healthy scratches.

Brindley is continuing to have a fruitful off-season, signing his entry-level contract and making his NHL debut in early April. He received 12 minutes of ice time but wasn’t able to change his stat line. With Columbus’ season ending soon after, Brindley’s scoring this season was limited to the 25 goals and 53 points he managed in 40 games with the University of Michigan. He also added 10 points in seven World Juniors games.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The NHL Department of Player Safety is expected to hold a hearing for Vancouver Canucks defenseman Carson Soucy, shares Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). Soucy could be facing punishment for cross-checking Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid in the face, after McDavid was knocked over by Nikita Zadorov, during a late-game scrum. Soucy has been suspended once in his career, receiving a one-game booking for charging Conor Garland in March of 2021. He was also assessed a $2,500 fine for a roughing penalty in November of 2022. It will likely be Noah Juulsen who steps in should Soucy miss any time. Juulsen has played in one postseason game this Spring, recording a -1 in 11:24 of ice time. Juulsen is coming off a career-high 54 NHL appearances this season, though he only managed seven points.
  • Team Germany has also made a lineup addition, bringing in Chicago Blackhawks forward Lukas Reichel, per Ellis (Twitter link). Reichel has been a key piece of Germany’s international presence, recording 11 points in 13 games across the last two World Championships. He also joined the team at the World U18 Division 1-A Championship in 2019 and the World Juniors in 2020. Reichel is coming off an up-and-down year, scoring just 16 points in 65 NHL games. He’ll look to reestablish his scoring spark in the familiarity of international play, with five games remaining on Germany’s slate before the quarter-finals.
  • The New York Rangers welcomed forward Filip Chytil back to practice on Monday, after he missed Game 4 with an illness. Blake Wheeler is also progressing from injury, upgrading to a full-contact jersey, shares Vince Mercogliano of USA Today Sports (Twitter link). Both Chytil and Wheeler should slot right back into the lineup, should both be cleared to play, likely bumping Jonny Brodzinski and Will Cuylle back to the skybox. Wheeler made a strong impact on the Winnipeg Jets’ first round run last season, scoring six points in five games to bring his career playoff scoring up to 45 points in 65 games.

AHL| Chicago Blackhawks| Columbus Blue Jackets| Injury| NHL| New York Rangers| Team Germany| Team USA| Vancouver Canucks| Winnipeg Jets Blake Wheeler| Carson Soucy| Filip Chytil| Gavin Brindley| Lukas Reichel

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Blackhawks Extend Lukas Reichel

May 7, 2024 at 1:02 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 4 Comments

The Blackhawks have signed forward Lukas Reichel to a two-year, $2.4MM contract extension, per a team announcement Tuesday. The deal carries an average annual value and cap hit of $1.2MM.

Reichel, 21, was slated for restricted free agency this summer after completing his entry-level contract. He was Chicago’s first-round pick in the 2020 draft, selected 17th overall after their most recent playoff appearance, a first-round elimination at the hands of the Golden Knights.

The German forward is yet to cross the 100-game plateau but will do so next season. Since making his NHL debut in the 2021-22 campaign, he’s tallied 12 goals, 20 assists, 32 points and a -45 rating in 99 contests.

After lighting up the AHL for nearly a point per game with Rockford last season, as well as 15 points in 23 games across multiple stints on the Blackhawks’ roster, most expected Reichel to challenge for a consistent top-six role in 2023-24. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to hold down the second-line role at center he was given behind Connor Bedard to begin the year, eventually demoted to a third-line role on the wing. He ended the season with just five goals and 16 points in 65 games, having the most disappointing season of a promising group of Blackhawks youngsters in Bedard and defensemen Kevin Korchinski and Alex Vlasic.

Thus, it’s not particularly surprising to see Reichel ink an extension not terribly far above the maximum buriable threshold if he’s assigned back to Rockford at any point over the next two years. If he’s able to get his development back on track by the summer of 2026, he’ll be a restricted free agent again in line for a more significant commitment, both in yearly salary and term, at age 23.

Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson still has a few weeks to work on extensions for the rest of his pending RFAs before qualifying offers are due on June 30. Among players who ended the season on the NHL roster, four other forwards – Joey Anderson, Mackenzie Entwistle, Reese Johnson and Taylor Raddysh – are headed for restricted free agency. Unlike Reichel, that group is eligible for salary arbitration.

Chicago also has six pending RFAs at the minor-league level, four of whom logged NHL time this season – center Cole Guttman and defensemen Louis Crevier, Isaak Phillips and Filip Roos. Among them, only Guttman and Roos are eligible for arbitration.

Reichel was solid in limited playoff action with Rockford last week, scoring twice and adding two assists as the IceHogs were bounced in four games by Grand Rapids in the Central Division Semifinals. He’s now likely off to Czechia to play with Germany at the 2024 World Championship, although he hasn’t officially been added to their roster yet.

The Blackhawks still have $33.84MM in projected cap space for next season, per CapFriendly. They still need to add around $15MM in combined cap hits for 2024-25 to meet next year’s lower limit.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Chicago Blackhawks| Newsstand| Transactions Lukas Reichel

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