The Lukas Reichel Experiment in Vancouver has been a disaster. Per a report from insider Rick Dhaliwal, the Canucks are already looking to move on from the beleaguered forward, and are ready to flip him in another trade.
They acquired Lukas Reichel from the Chicago Blackhawks less than a month ago, hoping that a fresh change of scenery would unlock the skills that made the German center a first-round pick back in 2020. Lukas Reichel But he has just one point in 13 games with the Canucks and had 0 shots on goal in his last 6 games. Overall, he has a plus/minus rating of -5.
Reichel was a healthy scratch on Thursday, now could be headed out of Vancouver
Lukas Reichel was dropped recently from second-line center down to a fourth-line role on the wing, and he dropped even farther on the depth chart on Thursday when he was a healthy scratch.
Patrick Johnson of the Vancouver Province writes that while Reichel was worth a shot to see if he could be a part of a younger core, it’s been an abject failure:
They did need an NHL centre, and the fact Reichel was young couldn’t be ignored — management is keen to add players under 25… and in Reichel they had said, ‘Let’s have a look-see.’
Expectations were low, but optimism was high when the Canucks picked him up last month. On Friday, as first reported by CHEK-TV’s Rick Dhaliwal, we now hear Reichel is certainly an option to be moved on — if another team will have him, of course.
The signing of center David Kampf a week ago was the writing on the wall for Reichel’s future in Vancouver, and now it just remains to be seen if they can recoup a fourth-round pick, which is what they sent to Chicago to get him in the first place.
