RALEIGH, N.C. — A few days ago, Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson mentioned how players tend to view demotions to the AHL as failure, even when those moves are simply meant to help them succeed long-term.
But when talking last weekend to enigmatic young forward Lukas Reichel about sending him to the AHL, Richardson didn’t even let the conversation cross into that kind of negativity.
“I wanted to stay totally positive with him,” Richardson said Monday. “I said, ‘You’re a great young man. You’re a pleasure to work with. Now you’ve got to find that desire internally. We know that you want it, but you’ve got to get over feeling sorry for yourself and just be excited to play and go after it.’
“We just said, ‘We believe in you. We believe you can do it. It’s just a matter of time. You have to find a way to find it.’ He said thanks and appreciated that. He’s going down with a good attitude.”
Reichel’s history of domination in the minor leagues, combined with his months-long struggles this winter in the NHL, make a Rockford assignment a logical last-ditch effort to revive his season. If he wasn’t going to be in the Hawks’ lineup — and Monday likely would have been his third consecutive game as a healthy scratch — it should behoove his development to at least be playing somewhere.
Richardson and general manager Kyle Davidson hope he’ll be able to apply in Rockford some of the lessons he learned in recent Hawks practices.
“We worked for a few days on battling through on the walls and [in] some tough areas, and driving and shooting pucks,” Richardson said. “I just thought at this point in time — and Kyle made the call — it’s a good time to go play some games down there. We can only do so much battle drills in practice.
“It worked really well for him last year, and we just think [it’s helpful] for him to go down and get some confidence and a high volume of reps in offensive situations and power-play situations. That’s going to help him. Hopefully he can find his game and get his confidence, and then [we’ll] get him back up just like last year.”
Korchinski flushes bad game
Defenseman Kevin Korchinski has responded well to his temporary benching in the second period of a 3-2 victory over the Senators on Saturday.
“[I] wasn’t playing to standard, and if I’m not playing how I should be, then I shouldn’t be playing,” he said Monday.
Korchinski added he “can’t really explain” why he made the ill-advised pinch that led to his benching, but he tried to respond well in the third period and was relieved the Hawks still won. He insisted he still feels “really confident.”
“You’re going to make mistakes out there — it’s a hard league to play in,” he said. “Whether you have a good game or bad game, you can’t let that dictate the next couple of days or your next practice or game. You have to show up every day with urgency and a smile on your face and enjoy what you’re doing.”
More Bedard love
Every coach who faces the Hawks gets asked about star rookie Connor Bedard, and every one offers abundant praise. Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour was the latest to do so Monday.
“He’s one of the rare talents to come along where [he] gets the puck on his stick and there’s always something positive happening,” Brind’Amour said. “He’s a threat all the time. He’s going to be a special player for a long time.”
