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Blackhawks Hit Rebuild Milestone With Never-Seen-Before Lineup on Sunday

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Antonio Losada | Last updated Mar 31, 2025 7:30 AM ET

The Chicago Blackhawks lost 5–2 to the Utah Hockey Club on Sunday, but the game marked a turning point in the team’s long-term rebuild.

For the first time, as noted by The Athletic's Scott Powers, six of general manager Kyle Davidson’s eight first-round picks since he took over before the 2022 draft dressed in the same NHL lineup.

Among them were forward Oliver Moore and defenseman Sam Rinzel, each making his NHL debut. The night came 997 days after Davidson made his first draft selections in 2022.

“It felt good, honorable,” Rinzel said. “It was so fun. Guys were great. Like ‘Ollie’ said, as a hockey player, you want to win, so that stings.

”But overall, it was an unbelievable first game.”

Rinzel logged over 20 minutes and registered four shots. Moore skated 15:03 and recorded two shots. Both impressed interim coach Anders Sorensen.

“A good example today is if you watch Rinzel,” Sorensen said. “His mentality of attack off the blue line or just advancing pucks with his feet, those are attributes that at this level are really positive.

"Oliver, too. Under pressure, made a lot of plays. They were good. I liked their game.”

The debutants joined Connor Bedard, Kevin Korchinski, Frank Nazar, and Artyom Levshunov—all first-round picks under Davidson.

Defenseman Alex Vlasic, now 23 and a former second-round pick from the class of 2019, said the moment symbolized progress for the franchise.

“It’s exciting to have all those guys here,” Vlasic said. “It’s finally coming to be of what everyone thought the rebuild was going to look like.”

Coach Sorensen acknowledged that the game offered more value as an evaluation tool than for its result, as Utah scored four unanswered goals after Chicago took a 2–1 lead in the second period.

Chicago (21-44-9 and 51 points) is second-to-last in the NHL standings, only above the San Jose Sharks (20-44-9, 49) and boasting a 13.5 percent chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming 2025 NHL draft, per Tankathon.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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