Vancouver Canucks Head Coach Adam Foote confirmed that newly acquired forward Lukas Reichel will make his debut for the team on Saturday night against the Montreal Canadiens.

“Yeah, he’s resting,” Foote shared. “He’s probably coming [to the rink] right about now [1:30 PM]. I spoke to him this morning, and he was going to go take a rest and come back and play. So we look forward to that.”

The Canucks acquired the 23-year-old on Friday from the Chicago Blackhawks for a 2027 fourth-round pick. Reichel has appeared in just five games this season, scoring two goals and four points while averaging under 10 minutes of ice time per game.

Foote spoke on what he’s most excited to see about his new forward:

“He’s a playmaker. He can make plays. He’s got good hands and a good hockey brain. So you know, with what happened, as you guys were aware of two centres going down quickly like that in Washington. You know, the young guys have done a great job, but to get a piece right now while the others mend is a good thing.

“He’s had a little bit more time in this league, and hopefully he gets in his position where, with our structure, he’ll do well.”

With Vancouver’s depleted centre depth, Foote shared that Reichel is likely to centre a line with Evander Kane and Brock Boeser. Reichel has mostly played wing this season, but has a career faceoff percentage of 40.5%.

Kevin Lankinen will face the Canadiens in net. Foote spoke about what his team has to do to slow down Cole Caufield, who shares a tie for the NHL lead in goals:

“Just be aware of him. He’s nifty. He’s got deception. He’ll hide, he’ll pretend he’s not going, and he picks up the speed with deception. Suzuki does a good job, too, having deception, pretending he doesn’t know where he is, and [then] he’s open. So we have to make sure that we watch them.”