Blackhawks prospect Oliver Moore learning to influence game with or without production

MINNEAPOLIS Oliver Moore can live with some bad puck luck.

Hes had to for some of his sophomore season at the University of Minnesota.

But the chance he had in overtime against Alaska on Friday, thats one he knew would sit with him for a little bit.

Moore had used his elite speed to circle the net, skating from left to right, and gained distance on his trailing defender.

As Moore emerged around the net, he found himself with a couple feet of open ice to shoot from the lower right circle.

Alaska goalie Nicholas Grabko expected a high shot, but dropped down quick enough to stop Moores attempt and hold onto it.

Advertisement It would be Grabkos night, as he finished with 36 saves in a shootout victory, and just not Moores, despite him having six shots on net.

Moore thought he easily could have had three or four goals if everything went right.

That last opportunity was just the icing on the cake.

That will keep me up tonight, for sure, the 19-year-old Moore said.

Less than 24 hours later, the hockey gods repaid Moore.

In the second game of the teams weekend series, Moore skated up the left side during the second period, delivered a pass to the front of the net and it deflected off an Alaska player and into the net.

Moore had a goal.

Minnesota would win the second game, and Moore completed the weekend with one goal, 10 shots on net and was a plus-2 rating over the two games.

Of course, the offensive production matters to Moore.

Hes always been an offensive forward, and thats one of the key reasons why the Chicago Blackhawks drafted him in the first round in 2023.

Thats often been a way hes able to contribute to a teams success.

This season has been different, though.

After a strong freshman season in which he had 33 points in 39 games, the expectation was for him to be even more dominant offensively this season.

He seemed headed that way, too.

He produced five points in his first four games.

But then, his offense fell off.

He went pointless for six consecutive games.

In college hockeys spread-out schedule, that meant three weeks without a point.

If you were just looking at the box scores, Moores lack of production would stand out and likely raise some concerns.

But those watching Moores every shift and dissecting what he was doing on the ice had a different perspective.

They saw where he was putting himself, and what chances he was creating and took notice of what he was doing away from the puck as he forechecked and defended within the zone.

Advertisement Blackhawks assistant general manager of player development Mark Eaton and director of skill development Brian Keane went over Moores video with him in early November and pointed all that out.

Just showing him, reinforcing hes doing the right things, Eaton said.

Hes playing to his strengths.

Hes a world-class skater.

He brings a lot of energy.

That compete level is second to none.

Thats always there.

We showed him hes getting some good looks in some good areas.

Its just that some of the execution wasnt there for that six-game segment or whatever it was.

Yeah, just wanted to show him he was doing the right things, hes getting opportunities, its just how it goes sometimes.

Sometimes the points dont reward you for the good things youre doing.

Moore was getting more of the same message from Minnesota coach Bob Motko.

The Gophers had won all six of those games, and Moore was a reason for that despite not producing.

Motkso has especially liked how Moore has improved his defensive reads this season.

The points arent coming, and sometimes that gets in your head, but he is becoming so responsible in the defensive end, Motzko said.

Hes a force on the forecheck, you know, how he attacks the puck.

He just needs to get rewarded.

Sometimes you see sophomores go through this.

You do.

But the good thing, all the great ones go through it, but they come through it.

It has a start, a middle and an end.

But we have no problem with how hes playing.

Were off to a great start and his footprint is all over a lot of things were doing.

The success were having, hes a big part of it.

Thats the great thing for us.

His point production is going to pick up.

In very, very due time, its going to pick up.

Just like that, it did.

In the next game after Motzko said that, Moore had a goal and an assist against Bemidji State.

That began a four-game points streak, during which he had three goals and three assists.

The streak ended with the first Alaska game.

After scoring in Saturdays game, Moore now has five goals and seven assists in 16 games.

The Gophers are 13-2-1 and ranked No.

4 in the country.

Advertisement Fellow Minnesota sophomore and Blackhawks prospect Sam Rinzel was impressed with how Moore handled his ups and downs.

Every hockey player knows it when you get in those kind of spurts or time lapses of you feel like youre doing the right things and its just not going for you, Rinzel said.

Its easy to get down on yourself and (try) to do too much, and every hockey player is guilty of it.

But hes done a great job of playing his game.

He knows what that it is.

Hes playing fast.

Hes playing two-way.

Hes able to do a lot of things for us.

He knows itll come for him, and obviously its been slowly coming back for him.

Its good to see.

Moore said his confidence didnt waver during his scoring slump, but he is happy to contribute offensively again.

All of it was also a reminder to him that he can influence games without scoring.

Youre not going to have your A-game every single night, Moore said.

I think Ive found a very good B-plus game.

I pride myself on that, obviously using my speed offensively, defensively, creating forecheck chances, just kind of being a hunter out there and being all over the ice.

Its something when things arent going in offensively, I can kind of go back to that and good things will happen.

While it hasnt always shown up with points this season, something he and Keane worked on this past offseason was placing himself in better areas to score.

That was apparent during Fridays game.

He had a shift in the first period in which he created three shots on net, and most of them were a product of where he was skating.

Moore also worked with Keane in the offseason on possessing the puck more down low.

His overtime opportunity was an example of that.

Thats a big part of the college game and translates to the next level, Moore said.

The next level is somewhere on Moores mind.

His goal is to win a national championship with Minnesota this season.

From there, the next step could be signing with the Blackhawks and finishing his season in the NHL .

Time will tell.

He was also selected on Monday to the U.S.s preliminary roster for the upcoming World Junior Championship.

Advertisement Moore has been keeping close tabs on how the Blackhawks and Rockford IceHogs are doing this season.

A lot of the players he spent time with at development camp are now in the AHL.

Just last season, he was playing against Blackhawks prospects Frank Nazar, Artyom Levshunov and Landon Slaggert in the Big Ten.

I love following those guys, Moore said.

Its fun to watch the Hawks.

Its really fun to watch Rockford this year with all the young guys there Ive gotten to know through the last few dev camps.

Its an exciting time for Chicago.

I think the city should be really excited.

The organization wants to get better and they have a championship mindset with every player they have in the organization.

For me in college right now, I think Chicago should just know theres still a focus on me and Im coming.

(Top photo courtesy of Minnesota Athletics).

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