As the Blackhawks played their first home game since trading Patrick Kane to the Rangers, they got another glimpse of their future.
Before Thursday’s matchup with the Stars, the Hawks recalled top prospect Lukas Reichel from Rockford. Reichel, 20, entered Thursday having played four games with the Hawks this season, totaling one goal and two assists.
He also has been a force with the IceHogs, picking up 46 points in 51 games.
“I think the plan has been for him all year to have some stints up here but to go down and to be the guy down there,” Hawks coach Luke Richardson said. “I think he’s going to be a high-end talent guy, so to be the guy down there, I think that’ll put confidence in him that he can do it at the level and he can also transition that when the time’s right to come here and not be up-and-down up here as a younger player.”
Before he was sent back down to the IceHogs on Jan. 13, Reichel was playing perhaps his best NHL hockey. It sounds like Reichel took that decision in stride, focusing on playing the best he could instead of getting demoted.
As for how long the current NHL stint will last, Richardson sees value in getting Reichel postseason experience in the AHL.
“I don’t know how long this will be, but the plan would be, at some point, he’ll probably play playoff games in Rockford and that’s a huge experience for guys at the pro level to go out and battle there,” Richardson said. “That’ll just bring even more to his game when he comes here next year for training camp.”
Reichel was supposed to play on a line with Philipp Kurashev and Max Domi, but part of that plan was scrubbed when Domi was scratched for roster management.
Bjork acquired
The Hawks made several small trades Thursday. They acquired forward Anders Bjork from the Sabres in exchange for future considerations, with Rockford trading forward Carson Gicewicz to Rochester (the Sabres’ AHL affiliate) in a corresponding move.
Bjork, 26, has spent most of this season in the AHL, totaling 25 points in 42 games. But he has played in the NHL most of the last five seasons, recording 53 points in 212 total NHL games for Buffalo and Boston. He is expected to join the Hawks on Friday.
They also traded forward Dylan Sikura and received minor-league forwards Rocco Grimaldi, Logan Nijhoff and Max Golod across two corresponding moves with the Ducks’ organization. Grimaldi is the sixth-leading scorer in the AHL this season.
A former top Hawks prospect, Sikura was in his second stint in the organization. He made his Hawks debut during the 2017-18 season after spending four years at Northeastern University.
What about Toews?
Richardson he saw Jonathan Toews on Thursday for the first time since he announced on Feb. 19 that he’s still dealing with the symptoms of Long COVID and Chronic Immune Response Syndrome. Richardson said Toews is working out but doesn’t know if there’s a timetable for him to skate.
Contributing: Ben Pope
