{"id":278032,"date":"2025-11-07T21:50:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T21:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/278032\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T21:50:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T21:50:08","slug":"how-will-the-blackhawks-core-handle-it-when-more-young-players-get-traded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/278032\/","title":{"rendered":"How will the Blackhawks’ core handle it when more young players get traded?"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Canucks forward Lukas Reichel claims he never officially requested a trade from the Blackhawks<\/a>, but he correctly assumed the organization knew it was time for him to move on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t go in the room and ask Kyle [Davidson], \u2018Please trade me,\u2019\u201d Reichel said Wednesday. \u201cBut I think they knew it, too, that I\u2019m not a fourth-line player and I\u2019m not a grinder. The way it went in Chicago, they had their top six kind of set. … They told me it\u2019s going to be a good opportunity here, and so far it\u2019s been really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reichel\u2019s Oct. 24 trade to the Canucks<\/a> made him basically the first member of the Hawks\u2019 young generation to get dealt. <\/p>\n

At practice at Fifth Third Arena the next day, things did feel odd. Reichel\u2019s boyish charm made him unique, and it was clear his presence was missing. On the Hawks\u2019 off day Tuesday in Vancouver<\/a>, a whopping 14 guys went to dinner with Reichel to catch up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe come in today and obviously \u2018Reichs\u2019 is gone, and it\u2019s different,\u201d Connor Bedard said Oct. 25. \u201cBut you go out and do your job anyway. That\u2019s how it is. It\u2019s tough when you see guys go, but…you\u2019re still on the same team and you\u2019ve still got all of the other 25 guys. It\u2019s just something you\u2019ve got to deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fact trade rumors had circled around Reichel for a while probably made the news easier to swallow for the Hawks. It was clear the franchise no longer had him penned into their long-term plans.<\/p>\n

What will it feel like when a higher-profile, less-expected trade happens? <\/p>\n

How will the core players handle it when not just one but instead four or five of their friends \u2014 guys they came up through the system with \u2014 have been shipped out? They\u2019ve gotten accustomed to veterans coming and going, but will it feel different when it\u2019s fellow kids going out?<\/p>\n

Those are questions worth asking, because that will eventually happen. The Hawks have such an abundance of prospects that they inevitably will need to trade some.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s partially because they won\u2019t have enough NHL roster spots to fit all of them, and partially because they\u2019ll need to bring a few established stars in order to become a true contender \u2014 and packaging several prospects together is one way to acquire such a star.<\/p>\n

That squeezing-out process is already underway. Oliver Moore\u2019s call-up<\/a> this week led to Landon Slaggert\u2019s demotion to the AHL, for example. And since Moore plays a similarly speedy, scrappy style to Slaggert but in a more effective way, he might render Slaggert expendable before long.<\/p>\n

The paths to permanent Hawks jobs look equally murky for Rockford defensemen Kevin Korchinski, Ethan Del Mastro and Nolan Allan, considering how many other young defensemen have established themselves in the NHL ahead of them. <\/p>\n

Korchinski\u2019s status as a former top-10 pick certainly puts him in a different conversation than Del Mastro and Allan, but that also makes his trade value higher. He was drafted as an ultra-offensive defenseman, but with Sam Rinzel and Artyom Levshunov already quarterbacking the Hawks\u2019 power-play units, where does that leave Korchinski in the theoretical future depth chart?<\/p>\n

When the Hawks\u2019 second wave of prospects \u2014 guys like Anton Frondell, Roman Kantserov, Marek Vanacker, Sacha Boisvert and their top 2026 pick \u2014 reach NHL readiness, the competition will only get fiercer. <\/p>\n

There will be some losers in that natural-selection process whom the Hawks will need to rehouse.<\/p>\n

From a team-building standpoint, general manager Davidson will have no problem with that. It\u2019s basically part of his plan: a surplus of assets is one of the fruits of a successful rebuild.<\/p>\n

Within the locker room, however, it will take some fortitude and maturity to prevent those departures from disrupting the chemistry and social fabric of the team.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Oliver<\/p>\n

Oliver Moore\u2019s speed and work ethic have been noticeable this week.<\/p>\n

Nazar\u2019s perspective<\/p>\n

Young Hawks cornerstone forward Frank Nazar isn\u2019t thinking about trades right now, but he does have a unique perspective on the Moore\/Slaggert situation \u2014 since he and Slaggert followed a Rockford-to-Chicago path last fall that mirrored Moore\u2019s path this fall.<\/p>\n

“[Oliver] went down to Rockford and didn\u2019t pout, didn\u2019t do anything bad,\u201d Nazar said. \u201cHe went down, proved himself and earned a call-up. I think he should keep playing with that same attitude of keep earning stuff, and he\u2019ll achieve whatever he wants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moore has been noticeable in the NHL this week, not only because of his speed on the forecheck but \u2014 perhaps more surprisingly \u2014 because of his hard work to win puck battles down low.<\/p>\n

He set up one great chance from below the goal line Monday against the Kraken, then did the same thing Wednesday and earned an assist on Ilya Mikheyev\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Nazar is disappointed about Slaggert\u2019s demotion, but he said he \u201cknows\u201d Slaggert will handle it with a positive attitude and keep working hard in Rockford. Nazar raved about Slaggert\u2019s defensive instincts and stick usage, which he boldly ranked the \u201cbest on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s super fast and explosive, so [he can get] up on guys early and quick,\u201d Nazar said. \u201cHe\u2019s kind of a sneaky player. You might look over your shoulder and not see him, but he\u2019s there, right next to you, taking the puck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reichel\u2019s new scenery<\/p>\n

Reichel\u2019s trade and travel experience sounded straight out of a movie. He got the call in a Portillo\u2019s parking lot \u2014 an extremely Chicago moment. He dashed to O\u2019Hare for a 7:45 p.m. flight to Vancouver that got delayed over and over until 7 a.m., forcing Reichel to sleep at the gate.<\/p>\n

Since he arrived in Vancouver, however, the Canucks haven\u2019t yet found a way to unlock more production out of Reichel than the Hawks did. <\/p>\n

He has zero points in his first seven games, having failed to convert on a decent number of chances \u2014 including a breakaway Wednesday on Hawks goalie Spencer Knight. The Canucks have been outscored 9-3 during his five-on-five ice time so far.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve kept him in a prominent role within their injury-ravaged lineup, though, which Reichel has appreciated. He\u2019s averaging nearly 16 minutes of ice time while centering their second line between Brock Boeser and Jake DeBrusk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just having a lot of fun out there, playing hockey again,\u201d Reichel said. \u201cI want to show that the Canucks made the right move.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Canucks forward Lukas Reichel claims he never officially requested a trade from the Blackhawks, but he correctly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-278032","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\/278032","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=278032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}