Lukas Reichel Heads Back to Rockford To Find His Game

Sitting in the press box for the last two games appears to be over for Lukas Reichel. Instead, he’ll head back to Rockford to try and recapture the confidence and output that got him to Chicago.

Per the AHL transactions, Reichel has been assigned to the IceHogs as he is still exempt from waivers.  This move had been hinted at more in the past week, as previous questions about him going to Rockford. But clues started to pop more recently that maybe the front office and coaching staff needed to go a different direction.

This past week Reichel was a healthy scratch for the past two games, and now the team feels he’s best served returning to Rockford.

Too Soon To Lose Hope on Lukas Reichel

He started the season as a center but that didn’t work. Moving him to wing exclusively was unsuccessful, too. Reichel sat a few games, and was shuffled through different lines to find a spark.

But it still didn’t produce anything.

The 15 points he had in 23 games seemed a mirage to the three goals and 10 points he had in over twice as many games this season. Now, he goes to Rockford, who has won three out of its last four games, and could use a chance at adding the dynamic forward who was just four points short of be point-per-game player for them last season.

The demotion tends to pin the “bust” label on the forward, but it’s important to remember that every trajectory in the league is different. While Connor Bedard has been exactly what was expected, Reichel has struggled to find his game with a full slate of NHL games this season.

Now What?

First and foremost, Reichel has to find his confidence. Disengaged isn’t the right word, but just watching at home games, he seemed hesitant to go to the spots that would produce goals. Instead of skating to it, often, Reichel would glide there. Sports, like life, boils down to confidence and a guy who has double digit goals is more likely to crash the net more aggressively versus a guy with just three to his name.

Some would point to effort, but it goes far beyond that. Going back to what head coach Anders Sorensen said about him last season, Reichel would get into his own head and only having three goals in 50 games is a nightmare to any player trying to establish his spot in the NHL.

“If things didn’t go his way in the game, if it was within a shift or within a period, I think in the past, he would let that affect him the rest of the game or the next game,” Sorensen said back in the summer.  “His ability to move on from things was a lot better.”

Now we’ll see if he can return to the confident kid who found his way to Chicago.

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