[Metalhead]

Weighing in on Reichel/Chinakhov (though I’ll probably regret it 🤣)

Lucas Reichel has recently proven to be nearly worthless in trade value.
The Hawks traded him for a 4th round pick.
He played 14 games for VAN, with 1 assist and no goals.
Vancouver, besides having the 2nd worst pts % in the league, is a struggling franchise lately.
Even so, they did not value him enough to keep him on the roster.
They put him through waivers, and all 31 other teams, who could have had him for free declined to take him.

As for their point totals:
In their most recent 82 NHL games:
Reichel has 27 points, or 0.33ppg. (27 pts per full season)
Chinakhov has 44 points, or 0.54ppg. (44 pts per full season)
In their most recent 41 games (1/2 season):
Reichel has 14 points, or 0.34ppg. (28 pts per full season)
Chinakhov has 26 points, or 0.63ppg. (52 pts per full season)

Though by no means comprehensive, it gives solid evidence that
a) Chinakhov is improving as he gains experience
b) Reichel is not improving, and might just be a ~28 point per season player in the NHL

Moving beyond point totals:
Chinakhov is over 50% in Corsi-for while Reichel is at 41%
even though:
Chinakhov gets only ~45% O-zone starts while Reichel has had over 57% O-zone starts in his career

Both players have elite speed, nearly identical rank in top speed bursts.
Chinakhov has a top ranked slapshot for a forward, as high as 98mph.

Obviously this can keep going way down into the weeds, but the fact that every single NHL team
could have had Reichel for free and declined, suggests that Reichel has zero trade value on his own.

[Metalhead]

Assman22 wrote:

Spellacy won’t sniff top 6 anytime soon, if ever.

That’s likely true.

Spellacy said he patterns his game after Tom Wilson.
Sam Bennett is another good comparison for him.
Obviously they were both drafted much higher than Spellacy.
The similarities are in how the first 2 earned their NHL paychecks.
They played a harsh physical game, both regularly crossing over into dirty hits and multiple suspensions.
Spellacy seems to already realize a similar style is his ticket to the NHL.
Hopefully he can do it without being as dirty as those two, only time will tell.

🤘

[Metalhead]

Assman22 wrote:

Defensively, he’s still pretty brutal. Everyone loving his game of late must be referring to his offensive output only.

💯

[Metalhead]

Lotta love recently for Arty but he flat out sucks in his own end.

There are glimpses of improvement but then he looks lost again.

[Metalhead]

01/05/25 update

This is not to suggest these are guys the Hawks missed out on.
It’s more of a general thread to show how a UFA class looks so great until the extensions start showing up.

Yes, there are some “non-legendary” 2026 UFAs on this list.
They are there to help show how the list diminishes before 07/01/2026.

“2026 Pending UFAs” list:
——————–Connor McDavid extended just before season start
——————–Kirill Kaprizov extended pre-season
——————–Jack Eichel extended just before season start
——————–Kyle Connor extended just before season start
——————–Martin Necas extended late October
——————–Mattias Ekholm extended just before season start
——————–Jake Walman extended just before season start
——————–Niko Mikkola extended just before season start
—————————————-Adrian Kempe extended
————————————–—-Adam Lowry extended
—————————-—-Mike Matheson extended
————————–Christian Dvorak extended early 2026
————————–Alex Wennberg extended early 2026
Andre Kuzmenko
Rasmus Andersson
Alex Tuch
Patrik Laine
Artemi Panarin
Jacob Trouba
John Carlson
Viktor Arvidsson
Oliver Bjorkstrand
Anders Lee
Boone Jenner
Cam Fowler
Evander Kane
Carson Soucy
Adam Henrique
Charlie Coyle
Jean-Gabriel Pageau
Mathieu Joseph
Trevor van Riemsdyk
Mason Marchment
Radko Gudas
Nick Schmaltz
Jamie Oleksiak
Alex Kerfoot
Michael Bunting
Erik Gudbranson
Ilya Mikheyev
Matt Dumba
Jaden Schwartz
Jordan Eberle
Vlad Tarasenko
Luke Schenn
Logan Stanley
Connor Murphy
Jeff Skinner
***Goalies***
————————-Thatcher Demko extended 2025 off-season
————————-Filip Gustavsson extended just before season start
————————-Anthony Stolarz extended pre-season
————————-Jacob Markstrom extended on Halloween
——————————————Scott Wedgewood
Stuart Skinner
Connor Ingram
Vitek Vanacek
Freddy Andersen
Ivan Fedotov
Petr Mrazek
***old guys***
————————–Anze Kopitar announced his final season
Alex Ovechkin
Evgeni Malkin
Patrick Kane

[Metalhead]

Thanks for the little details Frenchy.

[Metalhead]

Haru wrote:

Frondell looking good firing the puck on the powerplay. 1G/1A through 2.

Unable to watch, thanks for the info, much appreciated.
❤️

[Metalhead]

TheREALWiz wrote:

Yeah happy holidays & Christmas to all. Express in your words, the love you want all around you to feel.

Even with the Blackhawks, find no scapegoats or heels.

May the rushes be odd-man, and saves with the stick,
great health for the New Year, a gift from St. Nick.

Up on the roof: where the pucks they will enter,
with amazing progress from every young center.

And the D-men they shut down, stick check, make great hits,
for all 60 minutes and nobody quits.

As the winter moves on, build a new winning team,
we lay down to sleep with this sweet hopeful dream.

❤️

[Metalhead]

boilermaker wrote:

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone.

Merry Christmas to you as well, sir.

[Metalhead]

Merry Christmas Eve Eve everybody !

I like it here.
Even when two of you are disagreeing about Danault, you are still nice people.

🤘

[Metalhead]

TheREALWiz wrote:

I just don’t see any decisions regarding this present personnel group causes a playoff game playoff win or (gulp) Cup run.

Nothing that is decided now or in the next months determines that, and I don’t think Kyle gets a pass, but there hasn’t been a biug swing by him towards a NHL addition, but there aint many trades he can make that reshapes the room.

How Kyle and ownership handle additions via free agency and who determines further re-shaping, to me, again, is a question far down the developmental path, and not worth discussion now.

How does any meager moves now affect the next first round pick? It doesn’t matter enough to put him on a spike.

These are all sensible takes on the situation, thanks Wiz.

🤘

[Metalhead]

Dan Maloneys left hook wrote:

Jeez SFG, did KD’s mother dump you in high school?

🤣🤣🤣

[Metalhead]

CoachFrenchy wrote:

Prospect development is not linear — every player follows a different path.

re Rinzel:
Nik Hjalmarrson played 13 games in the NHL in his 20 year old season and 21 games in the NHL as a 21 year old.
He did not stick w/ The Hawks until the season after he turned 22.

Did they rush Hjalmarrson? Or were they just “trying him out”? He’s a different player than Rinzel, for sure.
But it’s a valid example that, even with a player who becomes excellent in the NHL, they don’t always know when the player is ready.

🤘

[Metalhead]

LAHawk wrote:

it is moot whether Marchment had Chicago on his no trade list or not

It’s just a point of curiosity sir, since Frenchy mentioned Marchment being available and he went to a team low in the standings.

[Metalhead]

Dan Maloneys left hook wrote:

If a player had Chicago on a no trade list and was ok with Columbus, we don’t need that guy.

Point taken.

That’s why I wondered if maybe the CBJ shot him a contract number he liked to go there.
That would make the most sense imo. Maybe we’ll find out.

[Author]

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