2023 NHL Draft: Blackhawks select Oliver Moore with No. 19 pick

The Blackhawks selected forward Oliver Moore with the No. 19 overall in the 2023 NHL Draft, a pick acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning in Bradon Hagel trade.

Luck was on the Blackhawks side once again as an arguably top-10 talent, Moore, fell to them at the No. 19. Seriously, he was ranked No. 9 on Elite Prospects’ consolidated ranking, which factors in at least 16 prospect evaluators. We didn’t even cover him in our series about the No. 19 pick because we didn’t think he would drop into the Blackhawks range. GM Kyle Davidson said the Blackhawks were working hard to move in to select Moore when they started to see him moving down boards, but he landed at their original pick. Again, very very lucky.

Now on to the basic stats… Moore is a 5-foot-11 left-shooting forward who has played mostly center over the last couple of years with the U.S. National Team Development Program. He put up 75 points (31 G, 44 A) in 61 games with the U.S. National U18 Team, and he had another 25 points (8 G, 17 A) in 23 games in the USHL  this past season. Moore also added four goals and five assists in nine games in route to the United States’ gold medal win at the 2023 IIHF World U18 Championship.

Moore was overshadowed by players like Will Smith, Ryan Leonard (both of whom went before him in the draft) and Gabe Perreault (selected four picks later) in the USNDP, but the fact that he was able to produce at the above level while as deployed more as a secondary player is pretty impressive.

Moore is arguably the best skater in the 2023 NHL Draft – not just his straight line speed, which is just shy of Connor McDavid level, but his agility and deceptiveness is top-notch. As seen by the tracked data, he’s great in transition and tends to more of a playmaker than shooter. He does have a quick release that can be combined to being a strong rush player, but he’ll need to work on getting his shot volume up to become a real goal scoring threat. Other descriptions used for Moore: competitive, high involvement player, two-way responsible, and dogged when it comes to puck retrievals.

Dylan Larkin is often his NHL comparison due to his speed and tenacity, and Moore himself said he models his game after Larkin:

Moore is already committed to play for the University of Minnesota this upcoming season, joining Blackhawks defensive prospect Sam Rinzel (first-round, 2022, No. 25).