Comes down to the fact that once he came back, after the contract dispute, he played quite poorly. And he was a guy, that if he wasn't producing offensively, he was a useless player otherwise.
He was one of my favorites at one point.
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His playoff stats also tell the tale.
8 goals in 70 GPs
5 goals in 26 with the Flames.
The two years when he scored 40 goals, he scored 2 in 13 games in those playoffs.
Just not good enough, and one of the reasons it was a talented team that underachieved.
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I interviewed Reichel when I was a journalism student. To say he had no passion for the game would be an understatement. Also didn’t seem to have any rapport with his teammates. The guy came across as sullen and selfish.
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I didn't like him much either. I always thought that he was overrated, though he did score well in Calgary. I just never really liked his game much at all.
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Not the greatest skater but the guy could shoot the puck. Maybe during regular season you can get bombs off from anywhere in the offensive zone and bag 40 but when guys start blocking shots playing for the Cup, it's not as easy. Reichel wasn't the kind of player that would fight to get into the greasy areas.
Big shot, and a good eye for the net. Zero and I mean zero sense of urgency and work ethic. He was a massive liability without the puck, and if I remember there were rumors that he was outright hated in the dressing room.
When he was traded, it was like good riddance .
I remember and I had to look it up, his return in the Islands trade was basically a nothing burger. We got Marty McInness, Tyrone Garner and a 6th round pick.
I mean Marty had a 19 goal season for the Flames and iirc he was a decent checker. Garner played three games for the Flames and got lit the F up.
But still we got rid of a cancer in Reichel. The Flames thought so little of him that when he was traded they basically threw his stuff in a garbage bag. I remember him leaving the rink and growling at the reporters and all of his stuff was in a glad garbage bag.
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I remember the playoff series with King as the coach and Reichel had one glorious chance after another to finish game 7 and couldn’t do it. I th it i i in t was the Canucks series?
IIRC King had some crack about what he would do differently and it had something to do with having someone other than Reichel all alone with the puck in front of the net. I don’t have details right but that’s how I remember it.
Big shot, and a good eye for the net. Zero and I mean zero sense of urgency and work ethic. He was a massive liability without the puck, and if I remember there were rumors that he was outright hated in the dressing room.
When he was traded, it was like good riddance .
I remember and I had to look it up, his return in the Islands trade was basically a nothing burger. We got Marty McInness, Tyrone Garner and a 6th round pick.
I mean Marty had a 19 goal season for the Flames and iirc he was a decent checker. Garner played three games for the Flames and got lit the F up.
But still we got rid of a cancer in Reichel. The Flames thought so little of him that when he was traded they basically threw his stuff in a garbage bag. I remember him leaving the rink and growling at the reporters and all of his stuff was in a glad garbage bag.
It didn't help then that he scored the only shootout goal a year later in the 1998 Olympic semi final vs Czech, either.
I remember the playoff series with King as the coach and Reichel had one glorious chance after another to finish game 7 and couldn’t do it. I th it i i in t was the Canucks series?
IIRC King had some crack about what he would do differently and it had something to do with having someone other than Reichel all alone with the puck in front of the net. I don’t have details right but that’s how I remember it.
Nsfw
9:49 mark for it in real time. 10:05 for the Peplinski comment "look at all the net Reichel has".
When that didn't go in, like Nieuwendyk in 1990 vs LA, Nilson in game 6 2004 OT and Leopold with 4 mins to go Game 7 vs Tampa, you knew the Flames weren't going to win.
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Prior to his holdout year he was making about $700,000/yr (Canadian; this was back in the day when Canadian teams could sign players to contracts in Canadian dollars), and he refused to come back until he was paid in American dollars and got a substantial raise. Ended up being paid about $2M that '96-'97 season, and frankly wasn't worth it (only Flames player who made more was Fleury, ~$2.4M). Marty McInnis, whom they traded him for, scored about as well as Reichel did at that point and was better at the other end of the ice, and importantly for the Flames only made about $500,000 or thereabouts.
Two years later (contract year) the Islanders traded him at the deadline to the Coyotes, who balked at his demand for a $3M/yr contract. They let him hold out back in the Czech Republic for a couple years before trading his rights to the Maple Leafs (who gave him his stupid $3M+/yr contract and regretted it not long thereafter).
His playoff stats also tell the tale.
8 goals in 70 GPs
5 goals in 26 with the Flames.
The two years when he scored 40 goals, he scored 2 in 13 games in those playoffs.
Just not good enough, and one of the reasons it was a talented team that underachieved.
That's true. But also looking at his playoff stats it looks like they are quite skewed due to his lack of production when with the Leafs. With the Flames he decent was for point totals. His lack of goals while a Flames was concerning, but he did produce 0.73ppg clip in the playoffs which align with his overall career average of 0.76ppg. Still, you want your 40 goal guy to show up when it matters most.
I just remember wanting so much more from him after his 40 goal seasons and in the post season. Can't recall the return the team got for him but I'm sure it sucked.
Last edited by Huntingwhale; 12-08-2020 at 05:56 AM.
Random question: Why did the Flames trade Reichel in 1997?
