Blackhawks’ Lukas Reichel open to a change of scenery

A former top prospect is open to finding a new home.

Chicago Blackhawks forward Lukas Reichel has been a name in trade circles for some time, due to the player’s frustration with the organization and his perception of how he has been treated. Once considered a future star in the Chicago system, Reichel has struggled to find his name on the big club’s lineup consistently, though he has been a productive player with the Hawks’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs.

Reichel has played just two games so far this season for Chicago, but he had a big night against the St. Louis Blues, scoring twice while assisting on another in an 8-3 win on Wednesday night. It was the 23-year-old’s first points of the season, possibly giving a glimpse of what could be if Reichel were given an elevated role.

On Thursday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, David Pagnotta joined Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton to explain the current trade talks regarding Reichel.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Obviously, a lot of trade talk around his name throughout training camp. He’s still with the Chicago Blackhawks and he goes and pops off a three-point night yesterday and I’m always so fascinated by guys who are in situations like that who start to play well…Does that drive up the interest in them? Or does the player start to sit there and the team starts to sit there and go like, ‘Oh, well, maybe we don’t want to move on from you this quickly.’

David Pagnotta: I mean, best-case scenario, it works out, he stays, and he earns a top-six role with that club. But there is frustration from the player, I can tell you that with certainty. For him to go out there and perform well last night, I think it’s more of a, ‘See, I’m able to do this. Get me out of here. Let me get another opportunity somewhere else.’

There’s been, to my knowledge, no trade requests…no formal one anyway. But I do think he’s open to a change of scenery based on how they’ve kind of viewed him, especially in camp. There has been a lot of interest in this player, a decent amount of interest in this player. But nobody’s willing to pay a premium or a decent price for somebody that’s not achieving. So, I think he did himself some favors, at least in rejuvenating some of those talks and some of the interests. Everyone’s kind of been waiting to see him and his camp or just waiting to see what’s going to happen here. I think yesterday’s performance may speed things up.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…