NHL rumour season has begun in earnest once again, and the Chicago Blackhawks are kicking things off by making Lukas Reichel available for a trade. Several reports have mentioned that the Blackhawks are shopping for Reichel, and the Canucks are reportedly among the teams interested in the German winger.

With the Canucks trying to add to their forward corps in pursuit of a playoff spot, Reichel is the type of low-cost, high-reward player that makes a lot of sense to acquire. But how much is too much to commit this early in the season for a project winger?

Reichel was drafted 17th overall by the Hawks in 2020, but at 23 years old, he’s yet to establish himself on a Chicago team partway through a rebuild process. Last season, Reichel reached career highs in games played (70), goals (8) and points (22), but finished with a career low 11:55 in average ice time. Compare that to his second season in the NHL, when he played just 23 games but put up 15 points in the process.

The Hawks seem to believe he’s reached his ceiling in Chicago, a telling sign for a team that’s ranked among the league’s worst in scoring throughout Reichel’s time there. But quite a few teams seem to disagree, including the Canucks. And with Nils Höglander now out 8-10 weeks after lower-body surgery, Reichel is a player who could make a lot of sense for the team to pursue.

Reichel’s best value is arguably in his low cap hit of $1.2 million AAV with restricted free agency in 2026. Without Höglander on LTIR, the Canucks have about $3.1 million in space to work with, more than enough to fit Reichel onto the roster.

As a player, Reichel brings an interesting mix of speed and skill that makes him a solid creator of offence off the rush. In his first AHL season back in 2021-22, Reichel put up a very impressive 57 points in 56 games. The following season, Reichel managed to tally 15 points in 23 NHL games. Unfortunately — as mentioned above — he hasn’t been able to build off of that in the seasons since.

The biggest need the Canucks have is at centre, and while Reichel is a natural winger, he’s taken more than his fair share of faceoffs. In 2024-25, Reichel took 356 faceoffs, winning 39.9 percent of them. A move to Vancouver would give him the opportunity to either start on the wing in place of Linus Karlsson, or take a run for Aatu Räty’s spot as the fourth line centre.

The biggest risk in potentially giving a spot to Reichel is if they’re forced to place a different young player like Räty or Karlsson on waivers to make room for him. Losing one of those skaters isn’t the end of the world, but especially in Räty’s case, it would mean waving the white flag on one of your own project players and risk losing them for nothing.

The cost to bring Reichel into the fold should be quite low – Frank Seravalli mentioned a late-round pick during a Sportsnet 650 interview – and the Blackhawks are seemingly prepared to move him as quickly as possible. Sweetening the pot with a young player might be required in a package for Reichel if the bidding war gets too big, but he’s also not a player worth breaking the bank on or giving away a blue chip prospect to add.

Would you want the Canucks to trade for Lukas Reichel? Let us know in the comments below.