He’s sneaky good
Lukas Reichel is excited about his fast track to Blackhawks — and so is his Eisbären Berlin coach
“He’s a pretty active player. You notice him, even when he’s not scoring, he’s involved in the play, down low in his own end or even in the offensive zone.”
—Stan Bowman, Blackhawks president of hockey operations on 2020 draft pick Lukas Reichel
Eisbären Berlin coach Serge Aubin remembers trying to get under Lukas Reichel’s skin, just to see what would happen.
During an Oct. 31, 2019, game against the Nurnberg Ice Tigers, Aubin felt as if Reichel was mailing it in a bit, not playing up to his level.
“And I’m like, that’s not good enough for him,” Aubin said. “I sat him whole third period. I didn’t play him one shift. I didn’t play him in overtime. The game got to a shootout and I’m like, ‘OK, kid, let’s see what you got.’
“And he ended up scoring the game-winner. He went out there and it didn’t bother him. He was really able to put it behind him.”
Reichel, speaking to Chicago media Friday for the first time since signing a three-year, $4 million deal with the Blackhawks, remembers that game from his first season with the Polar Bears, who compete in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, Germany’s top professional league.
“I played not so good the first shift, and then coach said … he just wants the best from me, just wants that I give my best on the ice,” Reichel said. “It’s hockey. Sometimes you have bad games. I scored the winning goal in the shootout, that was good too. After that, everything was fine.”
Added Aubin with a laugh: “I’m sure I was not his best friend at (that) point in time.”
Aubin said he occasionally would push Reichel “to see if he could reach this new level that I was looking for,” and more often than not, Reichel did. But Reichel’s response on the ice wasn’t the only thing Aubin was scrutinizing.
“I was just looking at his body language to see if I could see any type of weaknesses,” said Aubin, who played for the Avalanche, Blue Jackets and Atlanta Thrashers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. “He just stuck with it. We had to create leadership in our locker room, so that definitely helped.”
Reichel already has passed one test for the Hawks, who selected the forward with the 17th pick in the 2020 draft.
He was on a two-year trajectory to reach the NHL, and after a strong season in Germany — 10 goals and 17 assists in 38 regular-season games for Eisbären, two goals and three assists in nine playoff games and two goals and four assists in the IIHF World Championship — he looks like a solid bet to make the roster a year ahead of schedule.
“I’m so excited,” Reichel told Chicago reporters Friday. “I’m really looking forward to the future with the Blackhawks.”
Said Hawks president of hockey operations Stan Bowman last month: “Stylewise, he’s going to fit in really nicely with our team. We’re going to be aware of the fact he’s only 19 years old. I’m not putting high expectations on him.”
Asked whether he believes he accelerated his timeline to get to Chicago, Reichel said, “Yeah, I think so.
“I played a good season with Eisbären and the national team. So I’m really looking forward and I’ll give it my best in training camp next season and this summer, too, and then we’ll see what happens.”
Reichel wasn’t sure when he’ll arrive in Chicago.
“I can’t wait to come over,” he said. “It’s a great city and a great organization. It’s like a dream for me to play for Chicago, and I can’t wait.”
He’s set to have meetings with Hawks staff next week to plan his summer.
“Until then, I will vacation for one or two weeks, then I’ll get back to work and work with my dad (and) maybe work with the Eisbären team in Berlin,” Reichel said.
For all his growth — not just this season but the last two years — he still has a long way to go in some areas. One big box to check is his physique, and it’s likely he’ll get acquainted with Hawks strength and conditioning coach Paul Goodman.
Aubin remembers when he first met Reichel.
“We got him and he was very rough,” Aubin said. “He was this young man, about 160 pounds. When he first came to camp, I wasn’t sure he was going to make our team. And then quickly I realized he really has a special ability with his skating.
“He’s a phenomenal skater.” Aubin said Reichel also showed he has a good hockey IQ but didn’t want to expose him to quickly, so he played him on a line with Maxim Lapierre, a former 10-year NHL veteran who played with the Canadiens and Canucks, among other teams.
“I was trying to hide him, take him away from very very difficult situations,” Aubin said.
He also wanted Lapierre to show Reichel how an NHL player conducts himself.
The skating, however, just came naturally.
“It’s something that it’s really hard to teach. Some guys just have it,” Aubin said. “His edge work, he can change direction really quickly. He can make really good reads within the game, even if the game is played at a high speed, because he can change up direction in no time.
“Within a split-second he can adjust. He just flows on the ice, and it’s effortless. When you’re beside him, he doesn’t look like working that hard, then suddenly you realize he’s gone. And you like, ‘OK.’ “
Aubin recalled that Reichel admires deceptively fast Vancouver Canucks forward Elias Pettersson, and he’s a “big big fan of Patrick Kane,” another smooth skater.
“(Reichel’s) not like (former Minnesota Wild winger Marian) Gaborik in my time, but he’s got that type of game-breaking speed,” Aubin said. “I don’t think he’s learned to use it to his full potential yet.”
Aubin also said he wished Reichel would be a little more selfish offensively.
“He has a great shot with a sneaky release,” he said.
After the Hawks drafted Reichel, he took a leap in his second year in Berlin beyond just the raw offensive numbers.
“This year was a different story in the sense that I increased his responsibility a lot,” Aubin said. “First of all, he played as a centerman all year, which increased his responsibilities all over the ice.
“He did quite well, he got stronger. He played against a top line all year — last minute, first shift after a goal, all these critical moments that you need to learn as a player.”
Riechel was very receptive to criticism, Aubin added. However, at the NHL level, “I think he’s more of a winger.”
“We put him at center for the sole purpose of having him taking more responsibility and having to work down low in the (defensive) zone. He really did a good job at opening up ice in the neutral zone with his speed as a centerman.”
Reichel said the work at center helped his game. Because of his skating, understanding and composure, he rarely was caught out of position defensively.
“It’s good for me,” Reichel said. “The Blackhawks said it’s good to have more positions. I learned more how to play in the D-zone, and that (helped) me a lot the last season.”
The Hawks have been shepherding a rebuild and last season devoted more top minutes to rookies and second-year players than usual. So it was important to the organization for Reichel to add and refine his skills.
“He plays the pursuit-type game that we’re looking for,” Bowman said last month. “He’s a pretty active player. You notice him, even when he’s not scoring, he’s involved in the play, down low in his own end or even in the offensive zone.
“He’s good at retrieving the puck or pressuring the puck to get it back, and then he has enough skill to make plays.”
While Reichel keeps building on his skill set, everyone involved knows he needs to keep building his frame. Aubin believes Reichel put on about 15 pounds since he first met him. “He’s still not a big kid but I think he grew an inch and a half since last year,” Aubin said.
Reichel is listed at 6 feet and said he was at 163 pounds last season, and just before this season he tipped the scales at about 178 pounds.
Aubin said Eisbären strength coach Jake Jensen took over Reichel’s regimen and made sure he was eating enough food and making healthier choices.
“As you grow you tend to gain a little bit of mass … so I wouldn’t be surprised if he played at 190 pounds in a year or two,” Aubin said.
Reichel is aware he needs to continue bulking up to stand up to the rigors of the NHL.
“I still want to gain weight,” Reichel said. “The ice is smaller and the league is tougher. It’s small battles in the corners, but I have to prepare for that.
“That’s why I want to get stronger this summer.”