This longshot could still shake up the Blackhawks’ plans in 2025

Update: The Chicago Blackhawks traded Lukas Reichel to the Vancouver Canucks on Friday.

Lukas Reichel has been phenomenal when given the chance to play this season. While the Chicago Blackhawks look like they're on the path to getting relevant again, Reichel seems to be moving concurrently with the team.

Through five games, Reichel has four points and two goals, and a plus-1. To make this even sweeter, he's averaging under 10 minutes of average total ice time. While that small number of time on the ice indicates he's going to be moved somewhere sooner rather than later, it also shows he's more than making his case to stick around in the Windy City.

Regardless of what happens with Reichel, it doesn't mean his career is over. Other former first-round picks who struggled in the past picked up their games with a change of scenery. Kaapo Kakko of the Seattle Kraken is a recent example. Kakko went from afterthought in New York to a player who put up 30 points across 49 contests in Seattle. 

But that doesn't need to be the case for Reichel, should he keep playing good hockey when he has an opportunity. 

Lukas Reichel is still a longshot to stick around despite his recent performances

The one issue surrounding Reichel is the sheer potential and performances of other prospects in the Blackhawks system. Even if the Hawks look like a better team in 2025-26, they're still a team in transition, and Reichel may have already run out of chances. 

Still, that's not a bad thing. The better Reichel plays, the more value he holds, and the Hawks can ask for a higher price. That could mean getting an unforeseen asset back, perhaps a higher draft pick, or even a high-potential prospect they can stash into their prospects pool. And that would be better than the offers the Hawks likely got in the past for Reichel.

Either way, the Blackhawks have better odds to win on the whole Lukas Reichel saga. If he keeps performing well and they keep him, there's still a chance he could factor in as a strong middle-six talent, and maybe even as a depth scorer.

If not, then they could get a valuable future asset that could either help them out a few years down the road, at which point they should be on a winning trajectory. Or, they could turn around and trade that asset. Maybe when they become eventual buyers at the trade deadline?

There are a lot of possibilities here, and those possibilities will keep growing if Reichel continues to make the most of his chances. That will be a storyline for Blackhawks fans to keep an eye on.