2025 Blackhawks Top 25 Under 25: Sam Rinzel soars to No. 4

The 2025 version of Second City Hockey’s Top 25 Under 25 rankings continues well into our Top 10, which will contain a lengthier breakdown of each individual who made it into that group.

Sam Rinzel

Position: Defense

Birth date: June 25, 2004 (21)

Acquired via: First-round pick (25th overall) in 2022 NHL Draft

2024-25 team : Minnesota (NCAA) | Chicago Blackhawks (NHL)

2024-25 NCAA stats: 32 points (10 G, 22 A) in 40 games

2024-25 NHL stats: 5 assists in 9 games

Size: 6-foot-5, 190 pounds

Contract: Two-years, $941,667 AAV (entry-level contract)

Rankings: 3 (Zack), 4 (Dave, Eric), 6 (LBR)

Last T25U25 ranking: No. 6, up two spots

Sam Rinzel tallied collegiate career highs in goals (10), points (31) and game-winning goals (2) in 39 games with the Minnesota during the 2024-25 season. His 31 points ranked sixth among all NCAA blueliners, and his 10 goals tied him for eighth. He was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, while also earning All-Big Ten First Team honors.

get to know Sam Rinzel!👋 pic.twitter.com/4oYavpQ2C3

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) March 6, 2025

Rinzel was initially seen as a project pick (and was even considered a significant reach by some) when the Blackhawks selected him at No. 25 in the first round of the 2022 draft, but his stock has been firmly on the rise ever since. After putting up solid numbers in his freshman year -- which also included a gold medal run with Team USA at the 2024 World Juniors -- there was a lot to like about the offensive growth in Rinzel\'s game, but last season saw him take his all-around play to an entirely different level. While his point totals were similar from his freshman year (28 points in 39 GP, 0.71 PPG), to his sophomore one (32 points in 40 GP, 0.8 PPG), it\'s the way he came about those points that felt completely different. Rinzel employed much more of an attacking mentality -- evident in that his goal total jumped from just two in his first season at Minnesota to 10 last year -- and throughout the course of the season he showed an improved ability to create plays on the offensive side of the ice, while shutting them down defensively on the other end. His reads were better, his play on the puck was stronger, and he began to influence games in exactly the type of way you\'d like to see a young defender make when they\'re proving they\'re ready to move up to the next professional level.

"Sam Rinzel, different style player, can be [to the Blackhawks] what Brock Faber is to the Minnesota Wild." - Frank Seravalli

Presented by: bet365 ( @bet365ca ) #bet365 #NeverOrdinary https://t.co/PaBRd5mvyj | USE CODE: NATION

DFO Rundown | @frank_seravalli , @JasonGregor pic.twitter.com/daLRfHsE2R

— Daily Faceoff (@DailyFaceoff) March 24, 2025

The Blackhawks were so encouraged by Rinzel\'s development that they signed him -- along with his best friend and fellow Hawks prospect Oliver Moore -- to a three-year entry-level contract on March 29, just two days after Minnesota\'s season-ending loss in the NCAA Frozen Four. Rinzel made his NHL debut the very next night in a 5-2 loss to the Utah Hockey Club , and looked encouraging in the process:

Bedard sets up Rinzel for a great scoring chance pic.twitter.com/VYtn4YKYsc

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) March 30, 2025

What a sequence for Sam Rinzel. The spin move at the blue line!? Two high quality shots!! pic.twitter.com/7X8Y5YzJ3k

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) March 30, 2025

Here\'s what Dave had to say about his debut:

\" Rinzel seems to have a habit of keeping plays alive at the offensive blue line with smooth poke checks or by skating himself into a position to retain the puck. In a game when Chicago was absolutely buried in possession by Utah, Rinzel was above water with a 51.35 percent shot attempt share at 5-on-5 and also had a 45.33 percent expected goal share that was second among defenseman. The only one better was his most frequent blue-line partner: Wyatt Kaiser at 55.45 percent. Oh, and Rinzel did all that with an offensive zone start percentage at 28.57. There’s so, so much to like and it’ll be fun to see where it goes from here. \"

Rinzel suited up in every one of the Blackhawks remaining eight games after the loss to Utah, while putting up five assists in the process. He also led all Blackhawks in TOI during that same span -- he played at least 20 minutes every game, which certainly seems like a testament to how much faith the organization has in him already -- and saw significant time on both the power play and penalty kill. The Hawks also didn\'t shy away from challenging him with tough assignments, as he started a majority of his shifts in the defensive zone (Rinzel started 38.46 percent of his shifts in the offensive zone), as opposed to fellow defensive prospects like Artyom Levshunov (64.87 percent OZS%), and Kevin Korchinski (53.23 percent OZS%).

What separates Rinzel from the mass of Blackhawks\' other young defenders is his blend of skill and instincts. Rinzel was always a very raw prospect with a ton of individual tools, but the player we\'re seeing now seems to have figured out how to put all those things together. He\'s a strong skater who\'s able to carry the puck out of his own zone, build speed through his long strides, make forecheckers miss, and create/extend offensive opportunities in the opposition\'s zone:

Sam Rinzel is such a smooth skater. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/xLyiHbaSXh

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) April 15, 2025

Ryan Donato scores his 30th of the season after Sam Rinzel creates the play pic.twitter.com/8UxwU2clPT

— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) April 11, 2025

There are a few young players I'm excited to see in a bigger sample size this season. Sam Rinzel of the @NHLBlackhawks is one of them. @NHLNetwork pic.twitter.com/k62mfpcywM

— Mike Kelly (@MikeKellyNHL) September 8, 2025

Nine games is admittedly a very small sample, but it was hard not to watch Rinzel and come away extremely impressed by his decision-making -- and we\'re certainly not the only ones who think so. Last week David St-Louis -- who\'s one of the best analysts in the business over at Elite Prospects -- posted a brand-new video where he breaks down an entire game of Rinzel\'s shifts (spoiler alert: the phrase \"dominant defenseman\" is used) and gets in-depth on why he thinks Rinzel is currently the Hawks\' best prospect:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-1h2XNambU

And then Charlie Roumeliotis even took it a step further:

My bold #Blackhawks prediction for 2025-26 season: Sam Rinzel takes home Calder Trophy as NHL's top rookie https://t.co/MNxNvIjIB8

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) September 4, 2025

Rinzel seems to have all the attributes you\'d hope for in a future No. 1 defenseman, and he\'ll be given every opportunity to prove he\'s up to the task. He should open the season on the Blackhawks top defensive pair with Alex Vlasic, while also running the first power-play unit and killing penalties as well. I expect him to play the most minutes of any defenseman on the team this year, which is not something anyone anticipated heading into last season. Rinzel has had a remarkable rise through the Blackhawks\' ranks over the last 12 months or so -- he came in at No. 16 on this very same list last year -- and it\'s certainly significant to note that he already seems to have leapfrogged No. 2 overall pick Artyom Levshunov, as well as Kevin Korchinski (who was taken 18 spots ahead of Rinzel in the very same draft), in the eyes of many league-wide scouts and evaluators.

If you\'d like to see Rinzel in action before the season officially starts, you\'re in luck, as the Blackhawks announced on Monday who\'ll skate for Chicago in the Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase this weekend, and Rinzel is on the roster:

our 2025 Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase roster is here‼️

📰 ➡︎ https://t.co/Dmhovq9tn2 pic.twitter.com/88GI9SM9x0

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) September 8, 2025

Betsy posted all the info about the showcase and how you can watch the games -- or catch a practice -- if you feel so inclined:

https://www.secondcityhockey.com/everything-to-know-about-the-tom-kurvers-prospect-showcase

2025 Blackhawks Top 25 Under 25 list (so far): No. 5: Artyom Levshunov No. 6: Spencer Knight No. 7: Anton Frondell No. 8: Roman Kantersov No. 9: Kevin Korchinski No. 10: Oliver Moore No. 11-15: Lardis, Del Mastro, Kaiser, Boisvert, Reichel No. 16-20: Dach, Nestrasil, Commesso, Greene, Vanacker Nos. 21-25: Allan, Slaggert, Behm, Spellacy, Mustard Honorable Mentions: Pridham, Savoie, West

Sam Rinzel

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