The Journey of Lukas Reichel as a Chicago Blackhawk

As Lukas Reichel now had the attention of all Blackhawks fans around the world he would play another successful season with his German team Eisbaren in the DEL. Lukas would continue his strong play with a 27 point season (38 games) before making his way to North America.

During this time the Chicago Blackhawks would be going through some difficult times. From sexual assault scandals, to firings, to play on the ice... it was beginning to seem like that full tear down rebuild was going to happen soon.

Lukas Reichel was better than advertised in his first season with the Rockford Icehogs in the AHL. After a quick 11 game stint in the NHL the Icehogs center defied expectations by being an over a point per game player as a 19 year old. This was in line with his draft position of a mid 1st round pick and it appeared that the supposed "reach" was in fact a great pick.

Even the next season (last year) Reichel would not only duplicate his AHL play from the year before but finish the year as a Chicago Blackhawk (and in grand fashion with 15 points in 23 games) and the conversation would begin to emerge that maybe he is even better than where former GM Stan Bowman took him.

But not so fast...... How has this year gone? How bad has it been for Lukas Reichel?