NEW YORK — Blackhawks forward Lukas Reichel doesn’t make life easy for coaches. His combination of natural skill and seemingly inescapable inconsistency tantalizes and frustrates everyone who works with him.
That was true for Luke Richardson as he was coaching the Hawks the last two years, just as it was for Anders Sorensen the years before and part of last season in Rockford.
Now that Sorensen has taken over as the Hawks’ interim coach following Richardson’s dismissal, Reichel is his problem again.
“You don’t want to see a coach getting fired, but when I heard it was Anders [as the replacement], I was fired up,” Reichel said Sunday. “We had some good meetings together and some bad ones, but he helped me a lot in Rockford. He’s one reason why I’m playing here right now.”
Said Sorensen: “Our relationship is really good. It’s a give-and-take. We can be honest with each other. He’s honest with me. I’m honest with him.”
Igniting 19-year-old star Connor Bedard is Sorensen’s No. 1 objective in this role, but finding ways to foster success for the other relatively young forwards, namely Reichel and Philipp Kurashev, is also high on his list. He had immense success as Reichel’s coach from 2021 to 2023, freeing him to rack up 108 points in 111 games over two AHL seasons while also improving his reliability on defense.
Earlier as an IceHogs assistant, he also worked with Kurashev, who had 19 points in 36 games in 2019-20. That total wasn’t eye-opening, but Kurashev showed some offensive creativity that carried over into the NHL the next season.
“Back then, [Derek] King was the head coach and Anders was the assistant, and now it’s reversed,” Kurashev said. “It’s crazy to think that we’re back the same as when I started. . . . Back then, I was more shy and not talking too much, so they helped me with that.”
Hawks interim coach Anders Sorensen and forward Philipp Kurashev (foreground) worked together back in 2019-20.
Sorensen’s direct coaching style is already apparent, as is his emphasis on everything being up-tempo, be it in-game plays or transitioning between drills in practice. He blows his whistle so frequently and vigorously that the Hawks’ videographers have adjusted their sound mixing.
“He’s not afraid to snap on guys,” Reichel said. “He’s not going to be nice to me just because he had me in Rockford, or [Alex] Vlasic or the other guys. He [gets] to the point, and he gets loud.”
Now, the big question: Can Sorensen translate that previous success with Reichel and Kurashev to the NHL level?
Kurashev, arguably more than anyone, needs a fresh start under a fresh (but familiar) pair of eyes. After erupting for a career-best 54 points last season, thriving alongside Bedard, he hasn’t rediscovered that rhythm and entered Monday on pace for just 16 points.
Sorensen knows his job now “is to get [Kurashev] back to where he was last year.” He believes getting him the puck in motion will help with that — and also will help Bedard, which is why they’ve been reunited.
“It’s easier to make a play when you have some speed and can get away from guys,” Kurashev said. “If you’re standing still, it’s hard because everyone is tracking back. It’s hard to make plays like that. We’ll try to do that more.”
Reichel’s situation calls for less urgency because he’s currently playing well as the fourth-line center between Pat Maroon and Craig Smith (although Smith didn’t play in the Hawks’ victory Monday). The Hawks don’t want Reichel to remain a fourth-liner forever, but for now, they won’t fix what isn’t broken.
“[We want him] taking the next step to become a really full-time NHL player, and hopefully [that’ll] get him up in the lineup,” Sorensen said. “But that line has played really well for us, and we trust them. It’s working, so we’re not going to change that.”