Lukas Reichel hopes that innovative summer training pays off in Back-Against-Wall Blackhawks season

When Blackhawks Lukas Reichel returned to Europe in April, there was no guarantee that his return flight to Noord -America would bring him back to Chicago this month.

Trade rumors then kept bubbling and they continued to do this during the summer. Although she remained of social media, Reichel thought they were impossible to avoid.

“I heard from boys in Germany that I didn’t know he knew hockey,” Reichel said recently. “They come to me and say:” You go to Edmonton. “I can’t do anything about it. ” ‘

But now it is September, with training camp that will be opened next week, and Reichel stays with the Hawks. Plus, another change in coaching staff-with Jeff Blashill now the leadership-has the 23-year-old former first round a different clean slate and opportunity to earn more playing time.

This is a back-to-the-wall season for Reichel in Chicago, especially with his contract that will expire next summer. He knows that. But at least he is still in Chicago, and he thinks he is finally prepared for a big step forward.

“Now I’m so,” Oh, my God, I just want to get started, “he said. ” It makes it still motivating for me because you have a year and you just put everything in it. That’s why you try things with the training. ” ‘

Three trainers

In terms of trying things, the theme of Reichel’s offsean has been.

In the past, he spent most of his summers on his well -known home job with his famous skating partners while he trains with Hawks skills coach Brian Keane from a distance. It was not the most innovative approach. This summer he decided to push himself outside his comfort zone.

The highlights of his summer were a few camps of two weeks-one in Switzerland and one in the Czech Republic with skills coach Yanick Dube. Together with new Mammoet Vooruit JJ Peterka, whose trade rumors were flourishing this summer, and Peterka’s former Sabres teammate Jack Quinn.

Between the camps, Reichel drove to Munich for most days to continue skating with Peterka, Wild Forward Marco Rossi, Red Wings Forward Marco Kasper and other likely competitions of the Winter Olympic team of Germany in Winter Games in Germany. (Reichel has already been named the provisional schedule.)

Reichel also continued his usual external work outside of season with Keane and started working remotely with the Massachusetts -based skills coach Jon Lounsbury, the former trainer of Pat Maroon, who sent him more training sessions.

” If you practice [coach]He says: “You have to do this and this and this,” said Reichel. “But maybe the next coach says:” Try this “and that helps me more. Practicing with different coaches and against different players helps a lot. ” ‘

Reichel likes to talk about trying to replicate certain things that lightning star Nikita Kucherov does, and in the past he spoke in the same way about Oilers -star Leon Draisaitl.

But the replication of Peterka, who achieved 68 points for the Sabres last season, would greatly benefit Reichel – and could be a slightly more feasible goal. They know each other since they were 8.

“He was always a target scorer, and I see it in practice every day,” said Reichel. “With his release, he just knows how to score. We do many challenges. Like today, we played a three-in-two match [to see] who has more goals. It is always competitive, and it makes it more fun for us. ” ‘

The output of Peterka last season was 46 points more than Reichel had held on the fourth rule of the Hawks, on average less than 12 minutes per match. His analysis improved marginal compared to his rough season 2023-24, but they were still not great.

” ‘[Last season] Was up and down, “said Reichel. ” If you have a Down game, you have to learn from it. Then you feel better when it happens again. You know what to do. … Knowing that you have experienced it all … And how you deal with it or how you can try to stay positive, it certainly helps a lot. ” ‘

Two focus areas

Reichel and Dube mainly focused on two things: Reichel’s vision when wearing the puck and his ability to win board battles.

DUBE rated video of Reichel on the Hawks and noticed that he often had trouble translating his elite skating and speed into tangible attack. That is because opposing defenses have usually outlined him to the perimeter, and he lacked the skills to invade their structure.

” By viewing his services, you can see if a man had an idea of ​​the piece before he got the puck or if the man was [only then] Trying to read the situation, “said Dube. ” At the NHL level that is often too late. He missed plays or had problems beating boys.

“We discussed that, and then we did some exercises [about] Where to look when a man is on you – when his stick is on you, if you have less room to work with. ” ‘

Dube spoke with Reichel about the value of his speed varying, something with which the Hawks also discussed Fast prospects such as Oliver Moore. Sometimes it is useful to delay, either to give yourself more time to make a game or to make yourself less predictable for defenders.

Dube has also learned Reichel how he can be more misleading in his skates, so defenses cannot easily anticipate where he wants to go.

”Are [about] Try to avoid the crossover or, if you crossed, try not to point the toe in the direction you want to go, “said Dube. ” Try to get [rid] Of all the lectures that the ‘D’ could have on you. Are [also about] Weight -change, load all your weight on one side to push to the other. ” ‘

In the meantime, when the Hawks threw the Puck in the attacking zone (instead of worn), Reichel – by far the fastest player on his line – was often the goal last season, but he struggled to collect Pucks neatly from the wall.

Physical power is important in those board fights, but the body positioning is too. Opening his hips wider, so that he could turn in the defender’s pin and turn it out more easily was a great emphasis.

“Maybe the edge [around the boards] Come and the ‘D’ arrives at the same time, so there is no chance that you could do a deception, “said Dube. ” You first have to get the puck, so you absorb that check or the ‘d’ in the wall. We have worked on different techniques to use your hands or hips to get out of the pin. ” ‘

Reichel and Dube hope that these adjustments will enable him to use his natural talent better, that there has always been there but has not yielded much fruit.

“If you look at the practice, it looks easy, but it’s more about repetitions,” Reichel said. ‘It’s different in a game. But then you have the confidence in the game because you did it 1000 times in the summer. ” ‘