Is The Timing Reich?, and MLS Might Go Un-Native

Is The Timing Reich?, and MLS Might Go Un-Native

Thoughts on Lukas Reichel and a possible big change for MLS today.

Sector 1901 - Is The Timing Reich?

Wanted to get to this for a couple days, but a busy Hawks schedule got in the way a bit. Over at The Athletic last weekend, Mark Lazarus had a piece that sounded kind of like a thing I would write, beseeching Luke Richardson and the Hawks front office to let Lukas Reichel sink-or-swim. This is still a developmental year after all, at least it's supposed to be, and the Hawks need to find out whether any young player that has any chance of being something that matters is going to matter.

The problem is, we already know what Reichel is, and more to the point, what he isn't. Which is a player who isn't going to matter.

Reichel had all of last season to claim a top six spot going forward, both in the pivot and on a wing. There was little if any competition on the roster, especially after Taylor Hall's knee went kablooey. Any sign of actual dynamism would have easily marked him out on last year's Hawks.

He played himself back to Rockford.

That wasn't easy on a team last year that was screaming out for any level of competence, or even any evidence of future competence. Reichel couldn't even clear that bar.

Maybe it's best to review just how bad he was. Neither Reichel's Corsi-percentage or xG-percentage cleared 40 percent. His individual numbers weren't any better. His 0.49 xG per 60 ranked 292nd amongst forwards that topped 700 minutes last season. That's equal to J.T. Compher and Evgeny Kuzentsov, in case you were curious. The first is considered a huge bust of a signing by Steve Yzerman (which isn't making me laugh in the slightest) and the second was put on waivers. I assure you the rest of his metrics were just as bad.

Perhaps there's something we're all missing. Maybe there's something that's worth mining and getting under a microscope. There is one thing that Reichel was good at, and that's carrying the puck into the offensive zone.

Problem being, he didn't do it all that often because he was buried in his own zone too often. Still, there is that speed and when he gets on the attack he does tend to back defenses off.

So is there something that can be salvaged from this former first round pick? The Hawks certainly have nothing to lose by finding out, though they keep acting like they do. First off, Reichel is not a center. That speed plays better on the wing anyway, and he simply doesn't have the chops for the middle. Yes, the Hawks have no guarantees that Frank Nazar or especially Oliver Moore can take the center spots behind Bedards in the future, but they already look a better bet to do so than Reichel.

So, Reichel on the wing. Funny enough, the game Reichel could play, if you squint hard enough that you will sprain your retina, is Taylor Hall's. Yes, Reichel would be the diet version. The diet diet version. The kind of diet that Shaq would probably do an ad for. If The General had a diet, that's the kind of diet Hall Reichel could be.

Still, it's using that speed to disrupt on the forecheck and back off d-men on the rush. He's not really good enough along the boards to be a forechecking weapon, but his only hope is probably to improve. And he probably only fits on a good team that his morphing their lineup to be a "3+1" model instead of a top six with a checking line and grunt line. Reichel just isn't going to fit into a top six that has intentions of doing serious damage. He hasn't shown the hands or the instincts to score enough. But on a third line that's not meant for defense but to bum-slay? Maybe.

That's a lot of qualifiers. Thankfully for Reichel, the Hawks are in a spot where they fill out all those qualifiers.

Where does that land him on the Hawks now? Perhaps a look opposite Hall on either side of Kurashev for a stretch? Not like Tyler Bertuzzi is doing anything to make it clear he has to stay there. The Hawks aren't deep enough to try the 3+1, so Jason Dickinson and crew will continue to man the third line. Reichel isn't good enough around the net to complete the set for Bedard and Teuvo. This is the only real answer.

It's a total long shot, because all the evidence we have that Reichel, quite frankly, sucks. And we'd like to think there is a shrinking timeframe on this sort of thing, given that the cover story is that kids in Rockford can prove to be called up when they deserve it, which should start in a month or two. But for the October and November Hawks? They can take a punt on a long shot, because what are they hanging on to?


The Kickmen - MLS Going Un-Native?

Fun bit of news dribbled out from MLS circles yesterday:

The big reason for this, it seems, is to line up the MLS transfer windows with most of the rest of the world. MLS has been a selling league for a while now, and that money they get by flogging players to Europe makes a difference to a lot of clubs. With this sort of schedule, MLS teams wouldn't have to weigh stripping their teams of their best players for cash they might not have time to use on replacements right at the business end of the season. And buying clubs around the world would get players on a normal schedule.

There are plenty of other reasons to do it, first of which is to resemble a league that looks more like the ones fans watch the rest of the time. Another is that MLS won't have to rope-a-dope with various international tournaments in the summer. There's a World Cup on the horizon. They had to go in and out with the Copa America last summer. There's this furshlugginer Club World Cup in the upcoming summer, as well as another Gold Cup (also somewhat high on the furshlugginer scale).

Of course, the first reaction was from a lot of fans was just how are supporters going to deal with attending games here or Boston or Montreal come late November or December. Which always leaves out the fact that Houston, Orlando, Miami, and Nashville (and fuck even Chicago) aren't exactly pleasant in July in August. And playing in that kind of heat affects the product, whereas cold doesn't really (at least to a certain point). Players hate the heat and would much rather run through the cold for a reason. Watch two MLS teams already entrenched in the middle of the playoffs crawl through the humidity of Kansas City in July and you'll know ennui.

As far as the calendar clutter of North American sports, there's no way out of that. Right now, MLS is playing its most important games up against the NFL, college football, and the MLB playoffs. Shift the schedule around to the European calendar and it's early-season games will be doing that, whereas the playoffs will be only up against the NBA and NHL playoffs as well as early season MLB. It's a little gentler that way. There isn't a soft landing when it comes to this sort of thing on these shores.

But most of all, it feels like MLS wants to act like a grownup finally, which is what most fans have been asking for. We put up with the salary cap and byzantine roster rules that very few can explain and even fewer can do so without forfeiting their use to society. Everything but the NFL and maybe the NBA is a niche these days anyway. Those niches can go anywhere on the calendar.

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