Blackhawks' Lukas Reichel frustrated by lack of production: ‘I'm pissed'
Blackhawks' Lukas Reichel frustrated by lack of production: ‘I'm pissed' originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Chicago Blackhawks have played nine games this season, and Lukas Reichel is the only forward on the team that doesn't have a point yet.
Nobody is more upset by his lack of production than Reichel himself.
"Of course I’m pissed," Reichel said. "I’m frustrated. I want to score. It’s more fun if you score, of course, that’s why I’m a forward. But I try to stay positive and keep working."
To help free him up offensively, the Blackhawks moved Reichel to left wing at practice on Wednesday. Andreas Athanasiou was the center on that line and Taylor Raddysh was the right winger.
It was time to change things up, even if the move doesn't have to necessarily be permanent (although I think it should be).
"We might even move him back," Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson said. "It's just on maybe Taylor [Hall] coming back or so. 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's going to look the best."
In 20 NHL games as a center, Reichel has one point. In 23 games as a winger, he has 15 points (seven goals, eight assists).
Maybe it isn't or shouldn't be as black and white that, though.
"I feel like I got chances, but I've just got to bury them," Reichel said. "Sometimes you need a little puck luck and a bounce off a skate goes in. That's what I had last year, I had a couple tips that went in. This year, they're not going in, but I feel like I work hard and try to forecheck hard and play a simple game and hopefully I get a good bounce."
Still, the numbers don't lie. Reichel has shown he's more effective offensively on the wing. He played mostly with Athanasiou last season, so perhaps some of that chemistry can be rekindled.
"I think we've got speed," Reichel said. "As a wing, you don't got to stretch the D's back, and make time for AA and Rads and think more offensively and [not] always worried about D zone."
I asked Richardson how he's trying to give Reichel some positive reinforcement while also expressing that they probably expect more from him.
"Yeah, just letting him realize that it’s the NHL and production is a reality," Richardson said. "Also, like your first comments, we have to reinforce the good play. I am going to meet with him after this and show him some of the good clips that he had last game.
"He had a good D-zone clip where he pinned a guy in our zone, someone else scooped the puck, I think Wyatt Kaiser, and they took off on offense. Sometimes creating offense means good defense as well, otherwise you’ll never have the puck and you’ll chase it around the whole shift.
"For him to realize his whole game is growing, even though his production’s not on the sheet. He’s the one that’s playing, though. We can only encourage him and try and give him the right game plan that will work for him and our team. And then if he can, stay positive and stay fresh. 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 then he’s the one that has to step on the ice and do it."
Reichel's natural position is winger, even though he's played center the last few years in the AHL. But you can sense the frustration from him that he's not living up to the expectations the Blackhawks had for him at center at the NHL level or his own expectations, for that matter.
"Of course I want to play center too, but I do whatever they want," Reichel said. "I feel like a switch or a change to wing maybe helps, so we'll see."
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