Lukas Reichel has reportedly been made available for trade; here's where Canucks Head Coach Adam Foote believes he fits into the lineup.
Lukas Reichel’s time with the Vancouver Canucks has only lasted around a month, but it appears the team may be looking to move on from him already. The forward, who has predominantly played as a center with the Canucks, has only put up one assist in 13 games played. He was demoted from the second-line to the fourth over last weekend and healthy-scratched for Vancouver’s Thursday night game against the Dallas Stars.
When asked about what position he sees being most compatible with Reichel right now, Canucks Head Coach Adam Foote offered an answer — but explained that it’s hard to make a decision.
“I don’t even know if I can answer that right now, to be honest with you,” he told the media after Saturday’s practice. “I don’t want to answer right now, but if you forced me to, I’d probably say wing right now. He’s a good skater, and he’s got good hands.”
Foote also explained that the part of Reichel’s game that makes him seem more like a forward to him is the defending aspect that comes with playing at center. Given the fact that Reichel has spent the majority of his NHL career playing at wing, it’s not a surprise that he’s still learning the skills needed to perform down the middle. Foote chalks part of this up to Reichel’s young age.
“I’d say the defending part would probably be harder for him at this age, the strength, right? But as he gets older and gets stronger, the way he can skate and see the ice, and his hands, maybe that’ll change.”
Working on this aspect of the game, Foote says, comes down to a matter of walking them through it. The Head Coach admitted that “most young guys” take a bit of time in figuring out how to play when they don’t have the puck, and that it’s not just an issue for Reichel, but for others as well.
“If we’re going to be smaller up the middle right now, or young — probably the better word — or raw and young, which they’re learning, we’re going to want to make sure that we close with numbers quickly in the D-zone and get it done fast. If we’re not going to turn pucks back in the D-zone, which we shouldn’t anyway, if we’re super healthy, we want to move forward, especially with our group. I love the way they forecheck. I love the way they’re humming and getting in there. So we’ve got to keep teaching that.”
Even with trade speculation and questions raised about where Reichel fits into the Canucks’ lineup, Foote noted that today was the forward’s “best practice of the year.” Hammering down a positive practice — that’s a big step in figuring out how to approach his game.
“He was going, he was humming, he was buzzing, right? And he’s just got to keep believing in himself and applying it and keep working every day. It’s a process, and you’ve just got to keep rolling.”
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