Our weekend coverage for the Community Draft Board rolls on, and we’re getting into the home stretch here, folks! And next up, we’ve got Lukas Reichel, the second German on our list, and a smooth skating winger, who’s already established a role for himself in the German elite league. Not too shabby.
BSH 2020 Community Draft Board, No. 25: Lukas Reichel
2019-20 Season
Team: Eisbären Berlin (DEL)
Statistics: 12 G, 12 A in 42 GP
Pre-draft rankings
No. 11 (European skaters) by NHL Central Scouting
No. 33 by Future Considerations
No. 31 by ISS Hockey
No. 24 by The Athletic (Wheeler)
What’s there to like?
One piece that immediately stands out about Reichel’s game is that he’s a really strong skater—he has good top speed and shorter distance quickness, flexes nice crossovers, and he’s already quite strong on his skates (and will only continue to get stronger). And this also helps to make his offensive game even more dynamic, as he’s able to generate chances off the rush, or make plays in-zone, making space for himself to either take a shot or set up one of his teammates. He plays with a confidence to his game, doesn’t let himself be rushed by pressure from opponents, and isn’t afraid to take the extra second to make the right (and often quite creative) play.
He’s already found a good bit of success and had a strong draft season, and this all feels even more impressive when we remind ourselves that he’s done it playing in the top German professional league. He’s still a teenager, given important minutes, playing against grown men, and he’s doing it really well. Developmentally speaking, he already has a leg up on some of the North American prospects who have only ever played against peers in their age group, and that certainly adds an extra bit of appeal.
What’s not to like?
There really aren’t any glaring weaknesses or holes in Reichel’s game, but there are a couple of pieces that, if you’re looking for them specifically in your first round pick, you won’t find them in Reichel. First, if you’re looking for really high-end play making, like ability to run a power play at the NHL level play making, that really isn’t Reichel’s game. He certainly shows flashes of strong play making, and it’s not as though he’s a passenger on his line and just benefitting from the efforts of his teammates, that would certainly be a step too far. He’s a good play maker, but if you’re looking for a pick who has that as his biggest strength, who might project to be closer to elite in this area, you might not love this one if the Flyers do pick him up.
And second, he doesn’t really play a terribly physical game. This isn’t to say that he’s hesitant or going out of his way to avoid getting into battles or anything like that, but you just won’t see him running around throwing a ton of checks and trying to mix it up after every whistle. That’s all.
How would he fit in the Flyers’ system?
The Flyers certainly do already have an excess of wingers already in the system, particularly on the left side, and they do also have a fair few forwards in the pipeline who project as middle six contributors that can create plays and kick in some scoring and really just do a bit of (at least mostly) everything, to boot. Reichel offers a lot, but there isn’t too much that really dramatically sets him apart from other prospects already in the system.
But should that deter the Flyers from taking him if he’s the best available pick when they’re on the clock? No. Reichel is a good prospect and very well could be an impact player at the NHL level. You never know what could happen elsewhere in the organization, or with the prospects ahead of him on the depth chart, so an excess of talent isn’t a bad problem to have. You take the best available pick, and you work out how they may fit on the NHL team when the time comes.
Could the Flyers actually get him?
If everything goes more or less as the rankings suggest, Reichel should be on the board when the Flyers are set to pick at 23. Really, if things go as expected, Reichel might even still be on the board even later in the first round, which could be even better news for the Flyers. They alluded already that—as they did last year—they might look to move back in the draft if it means they can pick up some other assets. So, if they do move back a little bit but have still decided that they like Reichel, he might well still be available for them. Sort of a win-win if you ask me.
2020 BSH Community Draft Board
- Alexis Lafreniere — LW, Rimouski (QMJHL)
- Quinton Byfield — C, Sudbury (OHL)
- Marco Rossi — C, Ottawa (OHL)
- Tim Stützle — LW/C, Manheim (DEL)
- Cole Perfetti — LW/C, Saginaw (OHL)
- Lucas Raymond — RW, Frölunda (SHL)
- Jamie Drysdale — D, Erie (OHL)
- Alexander Holtz — LW/RW, Djurgardens (SHL)
- Yaroslav Askarov — G, SKA (KHL)
- Anton Lundell — C, HIFK (Liiga)
- Connor Zary — C, Kamloops (WHL)
- Seth Jarvis — RW/C, Portland (WHL)
- Jake Sanderson — D, USNTDP (USHL)
- Noel Gunler — RW/LW, Lulea (SHL)
- Jan Mysak — C, Hamilton (OHL)
- Jack Quinn — RW, Ottawa (OHL)
- Jacob Perreault — RW, Sarnia (OHL)
- Mavrik Bourque — C, Shawinigan (QMJHL)
- Dylan Holloway — LW, Univ. of Wisconsin (NCAA)
- Rodion Amirov — L, Neftekamst (VHL)
- Hendrix Lapierre — C, Chicoutimi (QJMHL)
- Kaiden Guhle — D, Prince Albert (WHL)
- Braden Schneider, D, Brandon (WHL)
- Dawson Mercer — RW, Chicoutimi (QMJHL)
- Lukas Reichel — LW, Berlin (DEL)
- ???
