Where will Blackhawks forward Lukas Reichel be next week?

Posted September 29, 2025 2:01 pm

Lukas Reichel is by no means old at 23, but he’s a veteran when it comes to Blackhawks’ training camp. This is No. 5 for him.

Each camp was almost entirely different, too. He’s been the fresh first-round prospect with all eyes on him but little immediate expectation. He’s been the young player with a chance to make the team out of camp. He’s been the young player who is not only expected to make the team but given a top-six opportunity. Over the last two years, his role and those expectations have swung the other way. He was a healthy scratch out of camp in the season opener in 2024 and played mostly on the fourth line last season.

Which brings Reichel to this season. It’s no secret the Blackhawks explored trading Reichel and, even in the last few days, let teams know he’s available. What happens over the next week is anyone’s guess. He could be traded. He could make the Blackhawks roster out of camp. He could be placed on waivers, and that could mean either being claimed by someone else or reassigned to the AHL.

Reichel has been through a lot of different situations in his young career, and he’s learned not to get too wrapped up in what’s out of his control.

“What I can control is practice good, play good,” Reichel said after practice on Sunday. “That’s all I can control.”

So far into training camp, Reichel’s been pleased with what he’s been able to control. After spending the offseason continuing to fine-tune his game, especially focusing on picking up loose pucks, he feels like he’s done everything the Blackhawks have asked of him: playing fast, being more aggressive and reliable, and still being offensive-minded.

In his two preseason games, his analytics were positive. Reichel put up a 50.92 expected goals percentage in five-on-five play, according to Natural Stat Trick. The Blackhawks have had a 10-5 advantage in scoring chances with him on the ice, but were outscored 1-0 in goals. As a winger in the first game, he had scoring chances alongside Connor Bedard. As a center in the second, Reichel had chances with Nick Lardis.

“I feel good,” Reichel said of his individual play. “I was skating and created some chances. Our line was buzzing. We had good forecheck. Like I said, still stuff we have to clean up, but I think for a preseason game, it was solid.”

If Reichel played the way he did in the first two preseason games in a past camp, the conversation around him might be different. But the Blackhawks’ patience with Reichel has changed in that time, and the organization brought in many more hyped prospects since then. The Blackhawks aren’t just looking for positive signs and hoping Reichel will figure it out in the NHL any longer. Oliver Moore, Ryan Greene and other prospects have moved up the chart and are now being prioritized.

Reichel probably needed to blow away the Blackhawks away to guarantee a roster spot, especially one higher in the lineup. Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson even said as much at the start of camp.

“It’s a little bit of a prove-it camp for Lukas,” Davidson said. “It’s been an up-and-down couple of years for him. But we still see Lukas as an extremely talented, high-upside player that has just as good a shot as anyone as breaking camp with this team. But he’s got to earn it just like everyone else. And he’s gotta find that niche. Where you gonna find yourself, where you gonna line up in the roster? That’s up to him to perform in camp and then coaches to deliver feedback and have that give-and-take to make sure he’s got all the information necessary to make this team.”

First-year Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill talks a lot about players’ identities and playing to them within the team. For Reichel, that’s complicated, as Blashill admitted on Sunday.

“His skill set is probably a little more top-six in terms of the way that he’s come up and what he’s valued, I guess,” Blashill said. “So, part of the process is probably learning how to take that and say, ‘OK, if I’m not going to get a top-six (role), whether those decisions are right or wrong, how can I grab a different spot?’ So you’re not limiting yourself to six positions. So, that’s something that we’ll continue to have conversations on and keep finding ways to make himself a commodity.”

So far in camp, Reichel hasn’t played much in the bottom six. Those spots also seem likely to go to Jason Dickinson, Ilya Mikheyev, Landon Slaggert, Nick Foligno, Colton Dach and Sam Lafferty. Of those six players, Lafferty is the one who probably could be a 13th forward, and that could mean one roster spot in the bottom lines is up for grabs.

Reichel wasn’t in the Blackhawks’ lineup on Sunday after playing on Saturday, but whether he plays in Tuesday’s game — and if so, where — could be an indicator of what the Blackhawks are thinking.

Blashill said he’d like to have a “good lineup” for Tuesday’s game. What does that mean for Reichel this week and beyond? He will know soon.