What are the Chicago Blackhawks getting out of Lukas Reichel?

The Chicago Blackhawks drafted Lukas Reichel with their first-round pick during the 2020 NHL draft. While he was a shocking pick at the time, it seems like he could be more of an NHL-ready player than expected.

Personally, when it comes to big prospects like Reichel I am always on board with giving them the most time in the world to develop before moving them to the NHL. Similar to Adam Boqvist who might have been better off with a little more time in the AHL before going pro.

Reichel is going to be playing at this year’s World Championships and that very well could be one of the determining factors in whether or not he is with the club next season. If they do decide to move him over now he will be coming off 27 points in 38 games with Eisbären Berlin. In nine playoff games, he had five points, two goals, and three assists. Reichel is a great depth player, but I do not know if the team really needs him right now.

Should Reichel make the jump to the US next season I believe he would be better off playing a year in the AHL. There is a lot of talent with the Rockford IceHogs and Reichel would get a chance to play on a good team.

Blackhawks prospect Lukas Reichel has the skill to be in the NHL, but he doesn’t really have the size.

The six-foot forward is still on the smaller size and is not very strong. The Hawks do not need to add another player like that to their mix they have a lot of those. Plus with Henrik Borgstrom signing a contract there is a good chance we see him in the NHL next season.

The bottom six is starting to look pretty crowded for next season. Let’s walk through all the players that are in the mix for spots: Dylan Strome, Alex Nylander, David Kampf, Vinnie Hinostroza, Adam Gaudette, Ryan Carpenter, Philipp Kurashev, Pius Suter – that list is not stopping and already is made up of seven guys.

While maybe Reichel can make the jump to the NHL next season, it probably wouldn’t be in his or the team’s best interest to do it just yet. Stan Bowman drafted a player that was projected to be in the NHL in a year or two, but with what the team has right now playing Reichel would just take up another roster spot in 2021-22.