Oliver Moore signed with the Blackhawks so abruptly that he forgot to tell his professors at the University of Minnesota he was going to miss two weeks of class.
Last week, he was a 20-year-old student trudging into morning lectures and looking ahead to the NCAA hockey tournament. This week, he has dads for teammates.
“It’s different than going to college, where the oldest guy you play with is 23 or 24,” Moore said Wednesday. “Now you’re playing with guys with kids.”
Defenseman Sam Rinzel, a fellow Minne-sota product, is going through the same sort of whirlwind experience. He and Moore will make their third career NHL appearances Friday night against the Capitals, tasked with helping the Hawks prevent superstar wing Alex Ovechkin from eclipsing Wayne Gretzky’s career goals record against them.
The Hawks’ many young players — there actually aren’t too many dads around — are at least helping Moore and Rinzel transition. For example, Moore’s linemate Landon Slaggert, whose younger brother, Carter, is good friends with Moore, has been a key resource.
“It’s kind of nice jumping into the fire,” Moore said.
In the Hawks’ 3-2 shootout loss to the Ava-lanche on Wednesday night, Moore showcased a bit of what he can do during a shift early in the second period, using his world-class speed to slice through the Avs’ structure before defenseman Devon Toews broke up his one-man rush at the last second.
A few moments later, Moore intercepted a pass from Cale Makar in the neutral zone, again cut between two Avs players and made a between-the-legs play that almost connected with Slaggert.
Promising sequence from Oliver Moore #11 last night vs Colorado:
— Ben Pope (@benpopecst.bsky.social) 2025-04-03T19:34:04.713Z
Later in the period, however, his line got stuck in the defensive zone for two marathon shifts. They did a decent job keeping the Avs to the outside most of the time, but Hawks coaches also got plenty of tape they can use to point out positional corrections.
Interim coach Anders Sorensen only gave Moore two shifts in the third period, and Makar scored the first goal of the Avs’ comeback during the latter one. The Hawks were cumulatively outshot 7-1 during Moore’s five-on-five ice time, compared to his debut Sunday when they outshot Utah 9-4 during his ice time.
Against the Avs, Moore did get two more shifts in overtime, where his speed could be especially dangerous in the future.
From afar, Moore’s sophomore season at Minnesota seemed slightly underwhelming. The 2023 first-round pick tallied 33 points (in 38 games), the exact same total as his freshman year.
He and the Hawks both felt that poor finishing — and some bad luck — explained his production flat-lining. He did show improvements in other areas of his offense.
“My first year, I was . . . forcing plays, trying to make things happen that weren’t there,” Moore said. “My development was just holding onto pucks and seeing plays develop more. That comes with experience. I felt a lot more comfortable offensively.”
He has always thrived off the rush and has improved at making plays below the goal line as his strength and confidence have increased. He said he shifted his mentality to tell himself, “I’m going to hold onto this puck, and no one is going to knock me off of it.”
Another focus area was attention to detail on defense. Moore learned how to skate more effectively in his own zone, closing gaps faster and jumping on loose pucks.
The Hawks are optimistic his skills will translate smoothly to this level.
“For some guys, the pro game is actually a little easier,” general manager Kyle Davidson said in February. “When they take a step [up] . . . that feels easier because you’re playing with players that are moving at your pace or thinking at your level.”