{"id":139848,"date":"2025-09-07T17:35:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T17:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/139848\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T17:35:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T17:35:08","slug":"blackhawks-lukas-reichel-hopes-summer-training-pays-off-in-back-against-wall-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/139848\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackhawks’ Lukas Reichel hopes summer training pays off in back-against-wall season"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Blackhawks<\/a> forward Lukas Reichel returned home to Europe in April, there was no guarantee his return flight to North America this month would bring him back to Chicago.<\/p>\n

Trade rumors were bubbling then, and they continued to do so throughout the summer. Despite staying off social media, Reichel found them impossible to avoid.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018I heard from guys in Germany that I didn\u2019t know knew hockey,\u2019\u2019 Reichel said recently. \u2018\u2018They come up to me and say, \u2018You\u2019re going to go to Edmonton.\u2019 I can\u2019t do anything about it.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

But now it is September, with training camp set to open next week, and Reichel remains with the Hawks. Plus, another change in coaching staffs \u2014 with Jeff Blashill now in charge<\/a> \u2014 has given the 23-year-old former first-round pick another clean slate and opportunity to earn more playing time.<\/p>\n

This is a back-against-the-wall season for Reichel in Chicago, especially with his contract set to expire next summer. He knows that. But at least he\u2019s still in Chicago, and he thinks he\u2019s prepared \u2014 at last \u2014 to take a big step forward.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018Now I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh, my God, I just want to get started,\u2019\u2009\u2019\u2019 he said. \u2018\u2018It makes it even more motivating for me because you have one year and you just put everything into it. That\u2019s why you try stuff with the training.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Three trainers<\/p>\n

Trying stuff training-wise has been the theme of Reichel\u2019s offseason.<\/p>\n

In the past, he spent most of his summers at his familiar home rink with his familiar skating partners while training remotely with Hawks skills coach Brian Keane. It wasn\u2019t the most innovative approach. This summer, he decided to push himself outside his comfort zone.<\/p>\n

The highlights of his summer were a pair of two-week camps \u2014 one in Switzerland and one in Czechia \u2014 with skills coach Yanick Dube. He trained alongside new Mammoth forward JJ Peterka, whose trade rumors did come to fruition this summer, and Peterka\u2019s former Sabres teammate Jack Quinn.<\/p>\n

In between the camps, Reichel drove to Munich most days to continue skating with Peterka, Wild forward Marco Rossi, Red Wings forward Marco Kasper and other likely fixtures of Germany\u2019s 2026 Winter Olympics team. (Reichel already has been named to the preliminary roster.)<\/p>\n

Reichel also continued his usual remote offseason work with Keane and began remote work with Massachusetts-based skills coach Jon Lounsbury, Pat Maroon\u2019s former trainer, who sent him more workouts.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018If you practice with one [coach], he says, \u2018You\u2019ve got to do this, this and this,\u2019\u2009\u2019\u2019 Reichel said. \u2018\u2018But maybe the next coach says, \u2018Try this,\u2019 and that helps me more. Practicing with different coaches and against different players helps a lot.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Reichel loves to talk about trying to replicate certain things Lightning star Nikita Kucherov does, and he has talked similarly about Oilers star Leon Draisaitl in the past.<\/p>\n

But replicating Peterka, who racked up 68 points for the Sabres last season, would benefit Reichel tremendously \u2014 and might represent a slightly more achievable goal. They\u2019ve known each other since they were 8.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018He was always a goal-scorer, and I see it every day in practice,\u2019\u2019 Reichel said. \u2018\u2018With his release, he just knows how to score. We do lots of challenges. Like today, we played a three-on-two game [to see] who has more goals. It\u2019s always competitive, and it makes it more fun for us.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Peterka\u2019s output last season was 46 points more than Reichel had while stuck on the Hawks\u2019 fourth line, averaging less than 12 minutes per game. His analytics improved marginally from his rough 2023-24 season, but they still weren\u2019t great<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018[Last season] was up-and-down,\u2019\u2019 Reichel said. \u2018\u2018If you have a down game, you\u2019ve got to learn from it. Then you feel better if it happens again. You know what to do. … Knowing you\u2019ve been through it all…and how to handle it or how to try to stay positive, it definitely helps a lot.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Lukas<\/p>\n

Skills coach Yanick Dube worked with Lukas Reichel on scanning the play earlier.<\/p>\n

Michael Reaves\/Getty Images file photo<\/p>\n

Two focus areas<\/p>\n

Reichel and Dube primarily focused on two things: Reichel\u2019s vision when carrying the puck and his ability to win board battles.<\/p>\n

Dube reviewed video of Reichel on the Hawks and noticed he often struggled to translate his elite skating and speed into tangible offense. That\u2019s because opposing defenses usually funneled him toward the perimeter, and he lacked the skills to penetrate their structure.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018Through watching his shifts, you can see if a guy had an idea of the play before he got the puck or if the guy was [only then] trying to read the situation,\u2019\u2019 Dube said. \u2018\u2018At the NHL level, that\u2019s often too late. He was missing plays or having problems beating guys.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018We discussed that, and afterward we did some drills [about] where to look when a guy is on you \u2014 when his stick is on you, when you have less space to work with.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Dube talked with Reichel about the value of varying his speed, something the Hawks also have discussed with speedy prospects such as Oliver Moore<\/a>. Sometimes it\u2019s useful to slow down, either to give yourself more time to make a play or to make yourself less predictable to defenders.<\/p>\n

Dube also taught Reichel how to be more deceptive in his skating, so defenses can\u2019t easily anticipate where he wants to go.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018It\u2019s [about] trying to avoid the crossover or, if you do cross over, try not to point the toe in the direction you want to go,\u2019\u2019 Dube said. \u2018\u2018Try to get [rid] of all the reads the \u2018D\u2019 could have on you. It\u2019s [also about] weight-shifting, loading all your weight on one side to push to the other side.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, when the Hawks dumped (rather than carried) the puck into the offensive zone, Reichel \u2014 by far the fastest player on his line \u2014 was often the target last season, but he struggled to gather pucks cleanly off the wall.<\/p>\n

Physical strength is important in those board battles, but body positioning is, too. Opening his hips wider, allowing him to twist within the defender\u2019s pin and pivot out of it more easily, was one big emphasis.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018Maybe the rim [around the boards] comes and the \u2018D\u2019 arrives at the same time, so there\u2019s no chance you could do any deception skating,\u2019\u2019 Dube said. \u2018\u2018You have to get the puck first, so you absorb that check or the \u2018D\u2019 pins you into the wall. We worked on different techniques to use your hands or your hips to get out of the pin.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Reichel and Dube hope these adjustments will enable him to better use his natural talent, which always has been there but hasn\u2019t yielded much fruit.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2018If you look at the practice, it looks easy, but it\u2019s more about reps,\u2019\u2019 Reichel said. \u2018\u2018In a game, it\u2019s different. But then you have the confidence in the game because you did it, like, 1,000 times in the summer.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Blackhawks forward Lukas Reichel returned home to Europe in April, there was no guarantee his return flight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-139848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}