Is he really that bad? He had 2 seasons in the OHL where he scored 40 goals and he has put up 50 points in the AHL. He is also gritty, hits and fights. Is he really not a better option than Pyatt, McCormick or Pajaarvi?
Rychel just isn't an NHL caliber skater. At all. Period. Slow acceleration, slow top speed, he takes ten steps to go as far as average skaters will cover in 5 strides. His stride is high and goofy, like he's doing ballet or some weird high kick run, and seems unsalvageable at his point in his career.
He actually has really nice hands when he can get up close and can find open areas of the ice at the AHL level, but he's such a defensive liability when the play isn't in the offensive zone. He's awful in transition because he cherry picks at times and doesn't have the speed to backcheck, so he's just removed from a ton of plays. He also has enough physicality to create space for himself at the AHL level, but has never shown that he can do it at the NHL level. He's also never been able to shake his reputation of being undisciplined, due mostly to the fact that he's super undisciplined all the time, and takes bad penalties at dumb times and goes into business for himself all the time.
The AHL has a long history of producing guys who put up great numbers against lesser competition, but whose skills just don't translate against the best in the world. There's hundreds of guys whose game gets worse as the talent level scales up, and look great in the minors but can't hang with the real pros. I mean, Donald Brashear scored 38 goal in an AHL season once. These things happen.
