Lukas Reichel

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.

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.