An unfortunate ending for the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the NCAA D1 men’s hockey tournament on Thursday night could benefit the Chicago Blackhawks. General manager Kyle Davidson spoke on the state of the team’s rebuild at the end of January and a major point of emphasis that he made was centered around plenty of the their prospects being in amateur hockey this season.
Among the top 10-15 prospects in the Chicago system, there is a pretty good split between guys playing at the collegiate level compared to those in juniors. The Blackhawks front office has done a good job stockpiling picks over the last few years and have made more than one first round selection in each of the last three drafts.
Barring any changes, the 2025 draft will make if four straight drafts where Chicago has multiple first round choices. In this stretch, they have made three picks to begin a draft twice, with those being in 2022 and 2024. There is no denying that the future is bright and management has allocated the right resources to try and create a special on ice product in Chicago again.
That Golden Gophers loss in overtime last night to UMass could get two pieces of the future to the NHL as early as next week depending on how fast Davidson wants to jump on this opportunity.
Sam Rinzel and Oliver Moore could sign in days
Sam Rinzel and Oliver Moore were both first round draft picks from the past few years. Rinzel was taken with the 25th overall selection in 2022 and Moore went 19th overall in 2023 in the same draft as franchise cornerstone Connor Bedard. Despite being drafted in different years, they each spent two years with the Golden Gophers and many have been saying that their entry-level deals would be inked as soon as their season came to a close.
Rinzel will hopefully be an anchor on the Blackhawks blue line for years to come and he played in 79 games across his two years at Minnesota. He saw an uptick in his goal scoring this past season as he found the back of the net 10 times and had 22 assists. Rinzel posted two goals and 26 helpers as a freshman and finished his first year of college hockey +23 plus/minus rating. He was on par with that number as a sophomore with his +20 plus/minus rating.
Moore had the exact number of points in each of his two seasons at the collegiate level. The forward had 12 goals and 21 assists this year for 33 points and nine goals to pair with his 24 assists that he had as a freshman. Moore will be a pivotal part of Chicago’s middle six down the road and the speed that he plays with will be very similar to the likes of Bedard and Frank Nazar.
The Chicago Blackhawks need to get moving with their young core
Chicago have the possibility of signing close to half a dozen entry-level deals before this season wraps up signifies that it’s time to ramp up this rebuild. The team has been hanging out at the bottom of the league’s standings for the past few seasons and the hope is that they can finally break free next year.
Bedard will be entering his third NHL season this fall and adding more young talent like Rinzel and Moore will only benefit him more as he looks to take his game to a new level. This draft will be extremely important for the Blackhawks front office along with trying to add a star like Mitch Marner in free agency this summer.
Chicago Blackhawks’ Connor Bedard drops telling quote about state of roster
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