A surprise early exit for Minnesota from the NCAA tournament may lead to early debuts for these two.

What’s seemed like an inevitability has now reportedly become a reality, as a slew of social media reports indicated on Saturday morning that the Blackhawks have signed first-round picks Sam Rinzel and Oliver Moore to NHL contracts.

Sam Rinzel and Oliver Moore have signed with the Blackhawks as expected, a source confirms.

Quick story: https://t.co/h7uWAAO0Ck

— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) March 29, 2025

Rinzel, who’ll turn 21 in June, was the No. 25 overall selection back in the 2022 NHL Draft, a pick acquired in the trade that sent Petr Mrazek from Toronto to Chicago, with the Blackhawks turning their second-round pick into a first from Toronto to take on that contract. He was always viewed as a long-term project with raw skills that needed to be refined before he could turn pro, but significant steps were taken in that direction for Rinzel during the last hockey season when he had 32 points (10 G, 22 A) in 40 games with the Gophers. Postseason accolades for the 6-foot-5, 190-pound Rinzel included Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and All-Big Ten first team.

Moore, who turned 20 in January, was a No. 19 overall selection in 2023, a pick acquired in the Brandon Hagel trade to Tampa from March 2022. The speedy forward was more stagnant last season than his fellow Chicago prospect, tallying 33 points (12 G, 21 A) in 38 games with Minnesota. The speed has always been there for Moore, who immediately becomes one of the fastest players on the Hawks and perhaps in the entire NHL. But the question has always been whether or not his overall hockey skill would ever catch up with those exceptional feet, something that didn’t happen quite enough during this hockey season and led to some speculation that he may return to Minnesota for one more season.

We caught up with both of Moore and Rinzel during a weekend trip to Notre Dame back in November:.

All reports indicate that both Rinzel and Moore are expected to make their NHL debuts at some point in the final three weeks of the 2024-25 NHL season. Fitting Moore in doesn’t seem too difficult, as any of the veterans occupying spots in the bottom six could easily be moved to make way for him. Rinzel’s inclusion is a little trickier, with Chicago skating five youngsters among its six blue-liners for Friday’s home game against Vegas and another — Louis Crevier — among the healthy scratches. One possibility would be to send Artyom Levshunov back to the AHL for the rest of the season and free up a roster spot for Rinzel while not burning the initial year of Levshunov’s entry-level contract. Levshunov is at the nine-game maximum right now, so that decision would need to happen quickly. But Levshunov has also been averaging nearly 21 minutes per night, so perhaps the Blackhawks are content to keep him in Chicago for the duration of this season.

The Blackhawks have a scheduled practice later on Saturday morning, so updates aplenty will likely follow later in the day.