The Chicago Blackhawks trying last few weeks are getting worse. They’re looking to find their footing without Corey Perry and Taylor Hall, and although they have shown some promising efforts, like the big 4-3 overtime win against the Toronto Maple Leafs (Nov. 24) and the 4-3 win against the Seattle Kraken (Nov. 28), but have since been on a miserable three-game losing streak, are second-worst in the NHL, and nothing is going right.
In an effort to stop the bleeding, the Blackhawks made three moves over the weekend, including sending Wyatt Kaiser and Isaak Phillips down to the Rockford IceHogs, recalling defenseman Louis Crevier from Rockford, and making Lukas Reichel a healthy scratch. There’s a lot to unpack, so here’s the lowdown.
The Give & Take of Sending Down Phillips and Kaiser
Before the Blackhawks faced the Winnipeg Jets on Dec. 2, they announced they sent Phillips and Kaiser down to the Rockford IceHogs as they activated Jarred Tinordi off of injured reserve (IR), who had been on IR since Nov. 11 with an oblique injury. With Phillips, his latest stint was his second call-up this season. With Kaiser, he made the team after an impressive training camp. They played as the Blackhawks’ third d-pairing. With this move, justification, yet questions emerge.
Starting with Phillips, these recalls are not his first rodeo with the Blackhawks. It’s his third season with the club as he made his NHL debut 2021, and has improved with each call-up. To me, his play as a defenseman is simple. He finds the puck, shoots the puck, and defends well with added physicality. As of late, the 22-year-old was driving offense, getting pucks on net. He had two assists in his last three games; in nine games, he had three points and was a minus-5. It felt probable when Tinordi returned that someone would get sent down, but it seemed like he deserved more time. As Connor Murphy stated, “He’s been good. He competes hard. It’s nice to have a guy who takes pride in the defensive side and wants to be a hard defender.”
Sending Phillips down confuses me because you want to reward players for doing well, making me wonder what it will take for him to stay up with the Blackhawks. There’s no harm in continuing to play top minutes in Rockford, but I believe he should have stayed. Phillips said he thinks he is a full-time NHL defenseman but will have to wait a bit longer.
When it comes to Kaiser, his game is very complex to me because the eye test doesn’t always match the stat sheet with him. You may think he is having a bad game, but the scoresheet will say he is a plus-2, and vice versa. But there is a lot to like about his game. He’s shifty, can contribute on offense, and be aggressive on defense, but there have been rookie mistakes on his part. He has taken a lot of penalties. He has 20 penalty minutes (third-most on the team) and had some blatant miscues on defense where he lost his guy, which is expected for rookies. Head coach Luke Richardson praised his skating and shot, but it makes sense to send him down to Rockford and work out all the kinks. It can only make him better. He had four points and was a plus-1 in 21 games. The potential is there for the 21-year-old.
Related: 3 Blackhawks Breakout Candidates for 2023-24
Coach Richardson said the reason for sending both of them down is so they can work on their games and build confidence. The IceHogs made Phillips and Kaiser the top-pairing defenseman during their game against the Manitoba Moose on Dec. 3. They were a fun pair at the NHL level (mistakes aside). Hopefully, that translates in the AHL (American Hockey League). This won’t be the last time we see them with the Blackhawks this season.
Can Crevier Make a Statement With the Blackhawks?
Amidst the questions surrounding Phillips’ demotion, what does make sense is the Blackhawks wanting to give other defense prospects looks. They have high hopes for Ethan Del Mastro and Nolan Allan in Rockford. At this point, they know what they have in Phillips and are confident in Kaiser. But the one defenseman they need more information on is Louis Crevier. He was their seventh-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft and started his first professional career with the IceHogs last season. His advantage over the other prospects is his size (6-foot-8, 238 pounds), and he was doing well in the AHL this season with five points and a plus-3 in 16 games. He was recently the top-pairing defenseman with Del Mastro. IceHogs head coach Anders Sorensen sang his praises, stating, “He’s really developed in terms of his position and his stick habits and his ability to break up plays because he is so rangy.”
So, the Blackhawks want to see what they have in 22-year-old Crevier. From training camp, he came up with some good defensive plays and goals, and he did well in his first NHL game against the Minnesota Wild on Dec. 3. In the 4-1 loss, he was paired with Alex Vlasic, whom he played with in Rockford, and then played with Tinordi. The defense was full of blunders from pretty much everyone, including Tinordi, Connor Murphy, and Seth Jones. But Crevier did not stand out during the game, which is the best compliment since many stood out for the wrong reasons. He finished his NHL debut with one blocked shot and two hits in 15 minutes of ice time. Richardson said he thought it was a great first game for him, and that’s all you can ask for.
We’ll see how Crevier does with the Blackhawks, but the hope is that he can make a name for himself as the defense prospect pipeline is starting to get established. He is a wild card at the moment, but those are usually the most exciting ones to watch.
Reichel’s Healthy Scratch Was the Right Move
Lastly, the most significant piece of news. Before the Blackhawks faced the Wild, Richardson announced that Lukas Reichel would be a healthy scratch, saying, “I’m sure he is disappointed, but we need more from him.” Richardson is right, as Reichel only has two goals, six points and is a minus-17 in 22 games in a second-line role. With top-line roles comes responsibility, even during rebuilds.
Last season with the Blackhawks, Reichel was one of their most impressive players down the stretch. He was fast, entertaining, crashing the net, and producing in a top-line role, with 15 points in 23 games. He didn’t just lose his talents, and he didn’t forget how to play in a top-line role, but I do think he is struggling with transition. Ever since the Blackhawks announced that he would be a center this season, he prepared all summer for it. When he made his NHL debut as a center, he showed early struggles, but the team wanted to see if he could find his footing, and he ultimately did, as his faceoff percentage is 47.7%, but it still wasn’t looking “right.” He has experience playing center in the AHL, but it’s a different beast being an NHL center.
I think being locked in a mindset of being a center and a role he said he was confident he could do, to being moved back to his natural left-wing spot has been more challenging than anticipated, maybe more on the emotional side. When you’re not producing in a role you worked so hard for, get moved, and still aren’t finding your rhythm, of course, that will weigh on you.
The Blackhawks had to make him a scratch; moving him to the first power-play unit, playing him with Connor Bedard, Philipp Kurashev, Tyler Johnson, Taylor Raddysh, Jason Dickinson, and removing him from the faceoff dot didn’t bring results. But history has shown that players sometimes need a break from the game. Boris Katchouk and MacKenzie Entwistle scored goals after being healthy scratches this season, so hopefully, Reichel will follow suit.
Related: Blackhawks Already Hold Key to Unlocking Lukas Reichel’s Ceiling
I’m not overly worried about Reichel. He has already shown he can play at the NHL level, but he has to figure it out like everyone else. It has raised questions about how patient the Hawks should be with Reichel, but they can afford to be patient. It’s the 21-year-old’s first entire NHL season, and everyone’s development comes with ebbs and flows. Maybe he won’t be the elite “forward” that many thought he would be when he was drafted in the first round of the 2020 NHL Draft, but his skillset shows he can be a serviceable NHL forward, whether that’s a top-six or bottom-six role, and that is more than okay. Furthermore, I also don’t think sending him to Rockford is the right move. He already showed enough at the AHL level by being an AHL All-Star last year, and he needs the experience in the NHL.
The good news is there is plenty of hockey left and time for Reichel to regain his footing. It’s there. He had two points in his last three games before the benching. Maybe he will surprise going forward.
These roster choices are not ones to take lightly, although not unexpected in a rebuilding year where Chicago has to continue evaluating their roster, and maybe one (or all of them) will yield positive results.
