The Blackhawks must expect Lukas Reichel to break this vicious cycle of mediocrity

Lukas Reichel changed his number from 27 to 73 last season, but he was still the same disappointing player we have seen the past two years.

Reichel did not change his number as some sort of superstitious way to bounce back from an awful 2023-24 season. He did it out of respect for Jeremy Roenick, who was made 27 famous in Chicago, after he was elected to the Hall of Fame.

A nice gesture, but it would have been even better if Reichel reached stardom, much like Roenick did by his fourth season in the NHL. Roenick had just made his second All-Star team by the time he was 22. Reichel had just made what felt like his 10th figurative stay in the franchise's doghouse at 22 by missing a team meeting because he did not properly charge his phone and therefore did not have an alarm.

That is how bad things are going for the immensely offensive gifted Reichel. While it might not be fair to compare Reichel to a Hall of Famer, Reichel has similar offensive gifts on the ice that Roenick possessed.

Reichel was once the team's most promising prospect before Connor Bedard showed up. Ever since Bedard arrived, Reichel has played like a forgotten top prospect. All he has managed to do is prove he can reach his talent floor of playing in the NHL on the fourth line. The problem with that is he is too talented to be nothing more than a supporting cast player.

A vicious cycle of mediocrity under previous coaches

He keeps getting trapped in this vicious cycle that starts with a stretch of terrible play that leads to him getting scratched. He eventually gets inserted back into the lineup on the fourth line and plays well enough to get moved up a line or two. He then struggles upon getting moved up, and the process starts all over again. This happened constantly under former head coach Luke Richardson.

The hope at the start of the 2023-24 season was that Reichel would be the team's second-line center. There was some potential that it was going to work as Reichel was forming some chemistry with veteran Andreas Athanasiou. When Anthansiou went down with an injury, the cycle of struggle began for Reichel. He lost confidence as his play dipped and was eventually demoted to Rockford.

I still maintain that the miscalculation Richardson made was not pairing him up with Bedard from day one. When Reichel is going right, he is still one of the Blackhawks' best players when it comes to entering the offensive zone. His size and speed make it hard for opposing defenders to disrupt him going toward the net. That would have been a nice pairing of having Reichel start the rush and set up Bedard to unleash his lethal shot.

Instead, Reichel just lost himself trying to be his own star. Part of that falls on the organization for how they mismanaged his development during his first two pro seasons. He showed a ton of promise in 2022-23 with seven goals and eight assists, but that promise had the potential to interfere with the tank for Connor, so he spent most of his time in Rockford.

At some point, the consistent struggles fall on the player. Reichel is no exception, especially with how he would allow himself to become disengaged the moment things did not go his way on the ice. He did seem to play with more confidence when he was paired up with veterans Pat Maroon and Craig Smith last season. That is when he proved he could at least reach his talent floor. He would still have nights where the effort was not there, and that would lead to him living in Richardson's, and eventually, interim head coach Anders Sorenson's figurative doghouse.

The cycle can be broken under the new head coach

New head coach Jeff Blashill values skating and speed, and Reichel can move well on the ice if he is fully engaged. His 2-1-2 system is similar to Sorenson's. However, I interpret Blashill's system as valuing constant puck pressure when the team does not have the puck. Applying that pressure will mostly fall on the defensemen, but Blashill is expecting all his players to play this way.

If Blashill can get through Reichel, he might be able to harness the relentless forechecker and backchecker that the Elite Prospects prospect scouting report had on him.

When it comes to the eye test, whenever I have watched a fully engaged Reichel, he is one of the best players the Blackhawks have at starting an offensive attack. Now, Blashill's system prefers to get rushes going off turnovers, and Reichel can still provide value there with his speed to get past defenders, trying to re-route him away from the goal. He can either dish off a primary assist with his playmaking ability or try to bury a shot on goal.

On the international stage, Reichel has shown that offensive ability that would work well in Blashill's system. If he can be that relentless forechecker, he can be ideal as the second forward being sent into the offensive zone to start the forecheck.

These are all "ifs" because if Reichel continues this cycle of mediocrity, then his career is going nowhere in Chicago. That is why time is running out on him with the Blackhawks. That is why the expectation must be that he breaks this chain of struggling play and becomes a consistent offensive force this season.