Blackhawks 2025-26 Player Previews: Lukas Reichel

Reichel signed an entry-level contract with the Blackhawks in June of 2021, and started his career in North America playing with the Rockford IceHogs. He excelled there in the 2021-22 season, producing at a point per game pace, with 21 goals and 57 points in 56 games, plus two goals in five playoff games. The organization rewarded Reichel by calling him up for a two-game stint in January, a three-game stint in February and a six-game stint in April to give him a taste of the NHL.

The Blackhawks wanted to take the patient approach with Reichel. In the 2022-23 campaign, he thrived with the IceHogs once again (20 goals & 51 points in in 55 games), earning him an end of the year run with the Hawks. He responded with seven goals and 15 points in 23 games.

Great! Now the 2023-24 season would be Reichel’s breakout campaign, right?! Yeah, that didn’t happen either. He started the season as the second line center behind Connor Bedard. But the 21-year-old didn’t respond well to the added responsibilities of playing center. He was then moved back to the wing, but that didn’t do the trick either. By this point, Reichel’s confidence was shot. After a couple of healthy scratches, he was sent down to Rockford once again for a reset, after producing only three goals and 10 points in 50 games with the big club.

Reichel’s main focus in Rockford was to be more aggressive and try to lead the play instead of letting it come to him. Upon his return on Mar. 17, we saw flashes of speed and aggressiveness, as well as some added confidence. He ended up tallying two goals and six points in his final 15 games.

The Blackhawks didn’t give up on Reichel. In May of 2024, the organization re-signed him to a two-year contract with a $1.2 million annual cap hit; basically a prove-it deal to give Reichel some more time to find his game. After all, everyone develops differently.

Many thought then head coach Luke Richardson was being too hard on Reichel, making him play among the bottom-six forwards to gain more defensive responsibility. But Reichel is a finesse player, so this deployment didn’t seem to be the way to set him up for success.

In the 2024-25 campaign, even after Richardson was fired, interim head coach Anders Sorensen took the same approach with Reichel. He spent the majority of the season on the fourth line, or in the press box. The organization clearly wants Reichel to add a more physical, defensive component to his game. His eight goals and 22 points in 70 games was nothing to write home about.  

Reichel’s Role in 2025-26

So how will Reichel fare with new head coach Jeff Blashill? Well, it’s a fresh start for him, so that’s a plus. It will be interesting to see Blashill’s approach to this player that’s struggled so far in his NHL career. Can he push the right buttons? Can he find a balance between the finesse, speed and skill that are Reichel’s strong points, and the defensive components that have been his weaknesses? What will his deployment be under the new coaching staff?

To his credit, Reichel has been working with a skills coach this summer, for the first time in his career. He knows it’s imperative he has a strong training camp, because there are plenty of younger prospects pushing to take his job.

Will this extra summer work pay off, and what exactly has he been asked to focus on? At exit interviews in April Reichel revealed,

For me, it’s more like the puck battles and picking up pucks off the wall. I kind of like … the biggest thing is just picking up pucks and making the right play right after and get to a good position on the boards so I don’t get hit or pinched off and lose the puck.

Many thought Reichel would be part of a trade this summer, but so far he’s set to come to training camp. Now it’s up to him to show improvement in the above areas, and then utilize his offensive instincts to play his way into the lineup. It’s the final year of his current contract, so this is definitely his last chance to make it work with the Blackhawks.

This will be a big storyline in training camp.