The NCAA season is well under way, so it’s time to catch up with the Chicago Blackhawks prospects playing in the NCAA.
Forwards
Sacha Boisvert, North Dakota
Stats: 7 points (2 G, 5 A), 8 PIM, 19 SOG in 9 games
It’s been a decent start for one of Chicago’s three first-round picks from the 2024 NHL Draft, as Boisvert is slightly below a point-per-game pace but in a three-way tie for fourth place on the Fighting Sioux with his seven points thus far. One of those two goals he has came on the power play after some nifty puck handling from Boisvert in a dangerous part of the ice where he avoided two PKers before finishing the incredible play himself:
Let’s take another look at that goal from a different angle, just for fun:
That goal was one of the three points Boisvert had against Cornell, a performance that helped him nab weekly honors:
As the tweets above mentioned, Boisvert was at a point-per-game pace after that outing against Cornell with seven in seven, although he’s gone without a point in North Dakota’s last two games. No cause for concern there, though. Based on the most recent lineup, it seems like Boisvert has locked into a 2C role for UND:
Ryan Greene, Boston
Stats: 8 points (3 G, 5 A), 2 PIM, 17 SOG in 9 games
There was some thought that Greene would turn pro at the end of the prior hockey season, but the Terriers junior instead opted to remain at Boston, where he’ll serve as the Terriers captain this winter. He started the season with a nice burst of five points in five games and most of those points came in a two-goal, one-assist for Greene during Boston’s season opener against Holy Cross. He also added a pair of assists in Friday’s 5-3 loss against UMass Lowell. One of those goals against Holy Cross was Boston’s first of the season:
Here’s the other Greene goal from the season, which was a power-play tally against Boisvert’s North Dakota side:
Greene picked up the secondary assist on his goal from last weekend’s games against Michigan:
Greene remains the No. 1 center for Boston, a spot he should occupy for the rest of the season as he continues playing through what is almost certainly his final slate of hockey games as an amateur.
As the No. 1 center on one of college hockey’s traditional powers, Greene should be piling up points all season long.
Dominic James, Minnesota-Duluth
Stats: 10 points (6 G, 4 A), 4 PIM, 25 SOG in 8 games
James is the Bulldogs leader in both goals (6) and points (10) through the first month of the season, with four of those goals coming on the power play. The senior forward was especially productive in a late October back-to-back against Stonehill, scoring four goals in those two games. For that performance, James was named the NCHC Forward of the Week:
All of that is the good news.
The bad news is that James did not play last Saturday against North Dakota because of an injury he sustained during Friday’s game, and this comes after James missed pretty much his entire junior season with a shoulder injury. No word yet on the severity of that injury for James, but we’ll keep an eye out for any updates on Minnesota-Duluth’s top-line center, who was a sixth-round pick (173rd overall) of the Blackhawks back in 2022.
Oliver Moore, Minnesota
Stats: 5 points (1 G, 4 A), 2 PIM, 19 SOG in 10 games
The offensive production has been slow to arrive for Moore, which certainly raises some level of concern regarding a player who’s also expected to make the NHL leap if the schedules line up that way in the spring. But if there’s one piece of solace we can offer, it goes back to our conversation with assistant coach Steve Miller in the summer, who mentioned that Moore is often used in a wide range of roles for the Gophers because of his well-rounded game. The lineups may offer some hints of that as well, with the first one below depicting Moore as a third-line center and the one from this prior weekend listing Moore on the top line. So, perhaps Moore is playing a more defensive-minded game, and that’s why his numbers are lower?
Still, five points in 10 games won’t inspire a ton of confidence. Hopefully, there’s an offensive eruption awaiting Moore as the season continues.
John Mustard, Providence
Stats: 3 points (2 G, 1 A), 4 PIM, 33 SOG in 44 games
A couple of goals with an assist have made for a decent start to Mustard’s college career, with this power-play goal against Northeastern from Saturday night being the most recent point that he’s registered:
The power-play time is a positive sign as well, as the pregame lineup had Mustard listed as being down on the fourth line for the Friars:
An ideal season for Mustard would have him slowly work his way up the lineup while proving he very much belongs at the college level. But there’s still a decently long road ahead between the 2024 third-round pick and the NHL.
Aidan Thompson, Denver
Stats: 17 points (7 G, 10 A), 4 PIM, 46 SOG in 10 games
Thompson may be the most pleasant surprise from this update, as he and teammate Jack Devine have the most points in college hockey to pace the offense for the defending NCAA champions. He has at least one point in every game and also padded his stats with four assists against Northeastern and a three-point night (2 G, 1 A) against Yale earlier this month. Denver’s schedule gets tougher this weekend with North Dakota on its way into town, so we’ll see if Thompson can continue to produce even when the quality of opponent improves.
Of course, a performance that well has come with weekly honors from the Pioneers’ conference:
He’s producing in all aspects of the game, too, with four of Thompson’s goals coming on the power play. The shot total is impressive, too, either on an in-game basis or in the season overall:
Thompson is also creating scoring chances for teammates:
Obviously, someone producing at Thompson’s rate is going to be a top-line forward, and that’s certainly the case here:
Should be fun to see if Thompson can maintain this rate of production over the course of the season.
Defensemen
Sam Rinzel, Minnesota
Stats: 10 points (4 G, 6 A), 4 PIM, 23 SOG in 39 games
Furthering the potential for concerns raised by Moore’s lack of production referenced above is that Minnesota’s offense is lighting up scoreboards everywhere it goes and Rinzel has been part of that from the blue line with a point-per-game pace thus far. Rinzel has been especially good on the power play, picking up this primary assist when his point shot was tipped in by Jimmy Snuggerud against Penn State earlier this month:
Rinzel’s production has been among the best from a blue-liner in program history:
And he’s already picked up an award as the Big Ten’s No. 1 Star of the Week:
Much of the production that earned him those early honors came in one game against St. Thomas:
The talk around Rinzel from his draft day was that he was perceived as a project type of player who’d need some time to develop. After a year in the USHL and another in the NCAA, it appears Rinzel may be starting to figure some things out. We’ll see where it goes from here, but it’s fair to consider this a promising step forward from Rinzel.
Taige Harding, Providence
Stats: 5 points (1 G, 4 A), 10 PIM, 10 SOG in 9 games
Connor Kelley, Providence
Stats: 0 points, 2 PIM, 5 SOG in 9 games
We’ll continue lumping these teammates together throughout the course of the season as neither Harding nor Kelley seem to be long-term factors here based on their college careers so far. They’re each skating in Providence’s top-four based on the line combos detailed in Mustard’s section above, but that’s about all there is to report from this pair of 2021 draft picks.
Still time to alter those trajectories, of course, but the plethora of D-men already in the organization are making for a steeper mountain to climb for these two.
Goalies
Dominic Basse, St. Lawrence
Stats: 0-1-0 record, .949 save percentage, 2.07 goals-against average in 1 game
Basse took a tough loss in his only appearance of the season, stopping 37 of the 39 shots he faced against Stonehill on Nov. 1. He was done in by a lack of offense in a 4-0 defeat, though. After spending the last two seasons at St. Cloud State, Basse transferred to St. Lawrence ahead of this season and that’s he only played in one of his team’s nine games explains most of the story regarding Basse’s potential for a long-term impact in Chicago.
Adam Gajan, Minnesota-Duluth
Stats: 3-5-0 record, .880 save percentage, 3.93 goals-against average in 8 games
Gajan, on the other hand, still has some expectations of being considered for a long-term role with the Blackhawks but the numbers so far this season do not offer much support for that. Last weekend was especially brutal for Gajan, as he allowed five goals in just over 34 minutes of ice time against North Dakota on Friday before being pulled and then was yanked again on Saturday just 5:38 into the game after allowing two goals on six shots.
There really aren’t highlights to show here, so let’s just hope that Gajan gets this all sorted out quickly so the next update can offer some more positive news.