The Blackhawks had a fairly lengthy, physical practice on Wednesday with no game until Saturday. One of the interesting things we saw on the ice was Lukas Reichel skating on the wing, with Andreas Athanasiou ate center. Taylor Raddysh was on the other wing on the Blackhawks’ second line.
Head coach Luke Richardson said the move isn’t necessarily permanent, but they are trying to find a way to get Reichel going. Through nine games, the team’s 2020 first-round pick has yet to register a point.
“We might even move him back, maybe when Taylor comes back,” Richardson said. “We just thought we’d try him there and see what it looked like with AA playing in the middle again. I thought AA looked pretty good in the middle at times last game when he got some chance there. Just trying to figure out what gonna look the best.”
Richardson also noted the Blackhawks have the last change at home this weekend, so he can manipulate the matchups more. He specifically mentioned Florida’s line with Sasha Barkov being against a more defensive line and get a more offensive line on the ice with a better matchup. The Blackhawks had Jason Dickinson back at center on a third line with Tyler Johnson and Ryan Donato on Wednesday.
When asked about reinforcing the positives about Reichel’s game while maintaining expectations of production, Richardson said they were going to sit down with him and look at some complimentary clips of Reichel’s complete game and how he can generate offense from plays even in the defensive zone.
Reichel said on the wing he can stretch the defense and make time for his linemates but be more focused on offense than being more thoughtful about the defensive responsibilities as a center. He did say he wants to play center, but if a move to wing helps him get on the board he’s open to it.
At the end of the day, the NHL is a results-driven enterprise. And Reichel is going to need to make it happen for himself. But the coaches are going to do what they can to put him in a position to succeed.
“I think for him to realize his whole game is growing even though his production’s not on the sheet,” Richardson said. “He’s the one that’s playing, though. We can only encourage him and try to give him the right game plan to work for him and our team…. He’s a young guy. He’s got to roll through these ups and downs. He has to know that we believe in him but he’s the one that has to step on the ice and do it.”