Blackhawks’ patient approach with prospects supported by Kraken’s Matty Beniers example

Kyle Davidson wanted to make the message very clear: the Blackhawks are following an ultra-patient approach to prospect development.

In the wake of top prospect Lukas Reichel’s surprising reassignment to Rockford, the Hawks general manager made an impromptu appearance Saturday to further emphasize that point. He has mentioned it many times before, but this Reichel demotion is the most controversial instance yet.

Most NHL teams would have kept Reichel in the NHL, based on how well he played. Even Davidson admitted Reichel “probably could” be a permanent NHL player right now. But the Hawks’ approach will be slow to an extreme degree.

“We make sure [our prospects] understand the big picture,” Davidson said. “There’s a road map, and there has been from the start of the year.

“Let’s call a spade a spade. We’re chasing most games here, and I don’t necessarily think that’s conducive to extremely positive development. There are great situations in Rockford where our young players have to go out and defend a lead and [play in] close games.”

Davidson also mentioned Reichel benefitting from being a “go-to guy” and holding a “leadership role” on an IceHogs team playing “meaningful hockey” in the AHL playoff race.

Those are all fair points. Plenty of fair points could be made in an opposing argument, though. Reichel has already played 88 career AHL games and tallied 93 points in them; he has pretty much mastered that level. The Hawks, if they wanted, could easily give him just as much ice time as the IceHogs can. Spending weeks with Patrick Kane and Max Domi would provide fantastic mentorship and experience.

But one man who also spent Saturday at the United Center — Kraken rookie forward Matty Beniers — offers a perfect example of patience with prospects paying off. Davidson didn’t mention him to support his argument, but he should have.

The Kraken drafted Beniers, who had already tallied 24 points in 24 games in his freshman year at Michigan, second overall in 2021. Many No. 2 picks are promoted straight to the NHL, and most onlookers expected the Kraken to do the same.

Instead, they let him return for his sophomore year, in which he tallied 43 points in 37 games and helped lead a loaded Wolverines team to a 31-10-1 record and NCAA Frozen Four berth.

This season, finally in the NHL, Beniers has been a revelation. His 34 points in 41 games (entering Saturday) put him just one point off the team lead — he has played a huge role in the franchise’s second-year offensive explosion — and tops among NHL rookies. He’s responsible defensively, too, making him the runaway Calder Trophy favorite.

Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said Beniers navigates “through a lot of new experiences and handles them all very well.” And Beniers believes his extra developmental year “absolutely” contributed to that unflappability.

“Coming off a good year in college, I had some confidence coming in,” Beniers said. “[It was] another whole year of getting bigger and stronger… Then you were able to step in when you were a lot more ready, instead of going too early. That was always the worry. You never hear guys say, ‘I went too late [to the NHL].’ They always say, ‘I went too early.'”

Hakstol added that every prospect has a “different path,” and indeed, Beniers and Reichel are not identical cases. It has been 2.5 years already since the Hawks drafted Reichel, and his ceiling isn’t quite as high as Beniers’.

Still, the Hawks’ decisions with Reichel right now all center around getting him ready to star in the NHL full-time next season. If his 2023-24 turns out to resemble Beniers’ 2022-23, they will be thrilled.

And Davidson vigorously maintains that one more half-season in Rockford — with perhaps another brief NHL taste or two mixed in — will give Reichel the best chance to do that.

Miscommunication, maybe?

Hawks coach Luke Richardson’s quote last weekend about Reichel’s future is one aspect of this saga that doesn’t really add up.

After Reichel’s three-point game Sunday against the Flames, Richardson said he had “earned a spot” and would get “extended time” in the NHL. Five days and just one game appearance later, he was sent down.

A team source said it was the Hawks’ plan all along to send Reichel down once Patrick Kane returned and that Davidson and Richardson were on the same page about it. But only one of those two things can logically hold true.

By far the most likely explanation is that this indeed was Davidson’s plan all along but Richardson either wasn’t aware or was mistaken about it. However, neither man has come close to acknowledging that.

Richardson said last weekend, in the same breath as those comments about Reichel’s future, that he hadn’t talked about it with Davidson. This weekend, Richardson said he actually had spoken to Davidson between the Coyotes and Flames games last weekend — a conversation in which he “made sure the message was that [Reichel] wasn’t going to be here for the rest of the year.” Which story is true, and which isn’t, might never be known.

Regardless, Richardson and Davidson at least seem aligned now.

“It’d be very easy for [Luke] to take the 24-hour mindset [and say], ‘We had a good game, we won, so let’s not change anything,'” Davidson said. “But he’s got a long-term vision of this, as well. He came in eyes-wide-open on what we’re trying to do and build. And so he wants what’s best for the long-term health of our players and our franchise.”

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