2 weeks Ago
Lukas Reichel ’s job was to get the puck out of the defensive zone. The Chicago Blackhawks were practicing in Los Angeles a day after playing the San Jose Sharks , and coach Luke Richardson had his players competing in a five-on-five zone drill. One group was to score, the other was to defend.
Reichel was on the defensive side. The puck ended up on his stick and he began his search for an exit. He handled the puck around one defender, then another, then finally carved through another before carrying the puck out of the defensive zone and completing the drill.
Advertisement Reichel’s teammates banged their sticks and shouted in celebration. Patrick Maroon, Reichel’s linemate, skated to him and hugged him as if he had just scored a goal. Nick Foligno , who had been on the offensive side, skated to Reichel with a huge smile, acting as if he was also going to embrace him but instead pretending to strangle him.
It was only practice, but the significance wasn’t lost on Reichel or anyone else. A season ago, maybe even a few months ago, Reichel wouldn’t have even attempted that kind of play. His confidence had shrunk and his high-speed skating and playmaking had seemingly disappeared as last season wore on.
He started the season centering the second line after a promising end of the 2022-23 season, then endured his toughest professional season and at one point found himself back in the AHL, where he had hoped to never be again. Maroon, who joined the Blackhawks this season, knew some of Reichel’s up-and-down struggles, but he got the full picture when sitting beside Reichel on the team’s flight from San Jose to Los Angeles. “I think most importantly, I know, I got the opportunity to sit on the plane with him last night next to him and hear what he went through last year,” Maroon said.
“Obviously it was a down year for him, in and out of the lineup, healthy scratch, Rockford.” Reichel not only felt like he had misplaced his skills, but the fun of the game had deserted him. He was constantly in his own head and questioning why he wasn’t playing well.
That’s one reason the play in practice means so much to Reichel now. “I realize that if it’s in a game or practice, just having fun out there,” Reichel said. “You’re in the National, it’s the best league.
I’m here for a reason. Just want to have fun and enjoy it. It doesn’t matter what happens.
I kind of let myself down last year. I wanted it too much. This year it’s like having fun out there this year and compete and enjoy the whole thing with the team and with the boys.
” Reichel’s path back to finding the joy has been unexpected this season. Training camp didn’t bring it out of him. He looked a lot like he did last season during camp and the Blackhawks’ preseason games.
Unlike last season, though, Richardson and Blackhawks management weren’t going to hand him coveted opportunities to prove himself once the season began. Advertisement That reality came in the form of being a healthy scratch for the season opener. He sat the first four games and made his debut against the Sharks on Oct.
17. Even then, it was clear he was going to have to earn everything from here on out. He was placed on the fourth line along with Maroon and Craig Smith and played 8 minutes, 31 seconds that first game.
In the next game, Reichel manned the fourth line with Smith and Andreas Athanasiou and played one of his best games in some time. He recorded two assists. Reichel slowly began playing more and being bumped up the lineup.
He was promoted to play on the top line with Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teräväinen during the game against the Nashville Predators , then started there against the Dallas Stars . Neither game went especially well, and Richardson moved Reichel back with Maroon and Smith on the fourth line. Against the Colorado Avalanche , that line showed some life.
Reichel scored his first goal of the season after deflecting a Smith shot, and the line had plenty of other chances. The trio had a 69.59 expected-goals percentage, according to Natural Stat Trick.
A game later, the line wasn’t as effective against the Sharks. Richardson stuck with it and gave the trio another look against the Kings on Saturday, and the line produced another goal with Reichel setting up Smith off the rush. Richardson admits he didn’t envision Reichel, Smith and Maroon as a line to begin the season, but they have complemented each other well.
Maroon can pick up pucks off the wall and has elite hands to make plays. Smith can skate with Reichel, has a strong shot and intensely defends. Reichel brings to the speed, dual-threat offensive ability and a growing defensive competitiveness.
“I wasn’t sure at the beginning,” said Richardson of the line during the Blackhawks’ recent road trip. “(Reichel’s) played great. I think it’s two, three games in a row right now where he’s really moving his feet, competitive.
I like how he’s playing. Whether it’s two older guys helping him verbally or two bigger guys who are intense – one’s a big physical man and the other guy’s an intense backcheck, hard on his stick battles – I think they just have the puck a lot. They’re smart player playing together.
They realize who each other is and they’re playing off each other well. I think they’re enjoying it. I’m enjoying watching it.
We’ll try to keep that rolling.” Maroon and Smith could be intimidating to most 22-year-old players like Reichel. Maroon, 36, has the look of someone who might bite your head off if you say the wrong thing.
Smith, 35, is an old-school hockey player in the way he sits at his dressing-room stall taping his sticks with his shirt off. You could probably drop either player into the movie “Slap Shot” and they’d fit in. Advertisement And then, there’s Reichel.
He’s young and mostly quiet. His English has improved, but German is his primary language. How does he fit in with Maroon and Smith? Maroon and Smith ensured that wasn’t an issue.
While they might be intimidating from the outside, both are friendly and easygoing on the inside. Maroon recalled how he and everyone else celebrated Reichel’s play in practice in Los Angeles. “I think that’s huge,” said Maroon, who felt support from Teemu Selänne early in his career.
“Everyone was pumped for him. It’s one of those things where we’re just trying to make him play to his abilities. There’s a reason why he’s here.
Make him feel comfortable, make sure he feels like he can talk to us and ask questions. I think that’s the biggest thing. Sometimes young guys come into the league, they get intimidated.
They’re intimidated by the veterans. He’s got two guys with great personalities on the line where he can communicate with us. We’re making him feel comfortable, just get to his game.
” As Reichel has gotten comfortable, he’s shown more of his personality, too. Smith loves to see it. “He’s eager,” Smith said.
“He’s always smiling. I think that’s underrated. When you’re having fun, you’re at your best.
You feel comfortable. You have energy. Things suck when you aren’t having a good time.
It’s always nice to see him get in the locker room and have a huge smile. He’s always talking. I think his English is fine.
” Reichel does feel more confident in his English since being drafted by the Blackhawks in the first round in 2020. But more than that, it has been Maroon and Smith’s influence and the team environment. “I think as a young guy you’re kind of more quiet in the room especially when older guys are around,” Reichel said.
“With this locker room, with this year, everyone can be whatever they think. They don’t have to be uncomfortable. It’s been great.
I think once we get on the ice, that chemistry off the ice, we’re going to be a really good team.” Advertisement Reichel is even comfortable enough to talk some trash to Maroon and Smith. The age difference comes into play.
Smith said he and Maroon are always asking Reichel about what movie he’s watching. Reichel wouldn’t go into details about what he goes at Maroon and Smith about, but he said it was more ice-relaced. “Yeah, he does, he chirps me a little bit,” Maroon said.
“Oh, yeah, I chirp him back.” That chirping, that comfortability and that encouragement are all helping Reichel play to expectations. He’s going to need a much larger sample size for Blackhawks management to believe he’s definitely a piece to their future puzzle, but Reichel is moving in a positive direction again.
Whether that would ever happen was in doubt just too long ago. “He’s been really good lately,” Maroon said. “He’s using his hockey IQ.
He’s using his skill. He’s using his feet. He’s moving.
His work ethic is there. He’s working hard. He’s competing.
I think that’s what they wanted, right? They wanted him to compete in puck battles. Everything else will fall in place once you’re doing that — the hard work. Everything else will kind of take over, your skill, your hockey sense, your IQ.
Making him feel comfortable is the biggest thing.” Reichel understands that, as well. The chemistry has mattered.
Reichel isn’t declaring anything just yet, but he does know he’s enjoying himself on and off the ice again. “I think no matter what happens on the ice, we have fun,” Reichel said. “We try to bring energy on the ice, just have good chemistry out there.
It’s just like playing with joy and energy. We have good chemistry. We want to keep doing that.
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We got a long season ahead. The big thing is keeping that consistency now and for the whole season.” (Photo: Glenn James / NHLI via Getty Images).
