Getting to know Blackhawks forward Oliver Moore: Sizzling speed and family memoirs

Posted January 15, 2026 1:14 pm

By Scott Powers

It takes some rookies time to feel comfortable in the NHL. From the play on the ice to the environment within the team to dealing with the media, there’s a lot to take on.

For 20-year-old Oliver Moore, the adjustment has been quicker than most. He’ll be the first to say he has plenty to learn, but his work ethic, ability and personality have allowed him to get comfortable within the Chicago Blackhawks.

Continuing our series of getting to know the Blackhawks’ young players, here are 10 topics with Moore:

1. You’re obviously well-known for your speed. Is that genetics or something you learned early on? I’m sure you’ve been asked plenty how a young player can develop that ability.

I think as a kid I just loved just running around. I never was the kid who wanted to sit still. I always just kind of wanted to be doing something, whether playing sports or trying to beat my older brother up. My mom ran, I think, 10 to 15 marathons, so she’s pretty dialed in with that stuff. I like to say I give a lot of credit to her. Obviously to run that many marathons isn’t easy to do so.

Did you ever get into running?

Oh, no, I can’t. Actually up in my cabin every summer, we do like a 5k, and every time after I’m sore for like four or five days. I just can’t run long distances, but I wish I could.

2. You ever look at the NHL Edge data and see where your skating speeds are? (Moore ranks first with a speed burst of 23 mph.)

A little bit, actually, yeah. It’s kind of fun to see. Lardy (Nick Lardis) and I definitely sometimes just go over our bursts or like how fast we went through the game. It’s just to see just for fun. But that’s actually pretty cool to add up. I didn’t realize that they could track all that, but yeah, it’s pretty awesome.

Do you remember specific instances where you’ll be tracked at a fast time?

I could honestly say I have an idea sometimes of when I was moving a little quicker than others.

There was a recent one where you came up the left side and blew by someone. I don’t remember the exact details, but I was thinking, that has to be up there.

It’s interesting because sometimes I feel like I’m going faster and then it’s not even on there, you know what I mean? So it’s weird that way, but I agree. I think there was one in Toronto that Frankie (Nazar) flipped to me and I thought it was the fastest I’ve ever skated, but I don’t even think it’s on my top one. It’s funny that way.

I think Louis Crevier has all the top 10 hardest shots on the team.

Really? I wish. I don’t think I’ve ever wound up for a slap shot like he has. Like some of the times, he just comes out and rips it.

3. Do you have any specific hobbies outside of hockey?

I kinda like to do a little bit of everything, I like to look around the city of Chicago. We’ve been to the aquarium, went to the zoo, watch other sports. It’s nothing really crazy, but I like to read books, stuff like that.

4. Any recent book recommendations?

Yeah, the one I’m actually reading right now is pretty cool. My grandpa was in World War II and he actually wrote a book. He had, he wrote a ton of notes that basically turned into a book. So it was like chronologically in World War II like all the notes that he had. So it’s pretty cool, like it’s his voice. He passed away, unfortunately, a couple years back, but it’s a pretty cool book.

What’s his name and the name of the book?

Jack Moore and “We Never Said Good-Bye.”

That’s cool.

Yeah, it’s a pretty cool book. My dad gave it to me for Christmas.

5. Did you play other sports growing up?

I played everything. I played soccer, soccer was a big one. I finished playing soccer my sophomore year of high school.

That’s pretty late for athletes nowadays as they specialize in sports.

Yeah, I was really into it. I took time off hockey a lot during the summer just to play other sports. Soccer, I played up until JV, so I wasn’t a superstar athlete in it, but I just loved doing it. I liked to play mid, just buzz around and play a little defense, play a little offense. I think honestly for me and for any kid out there, it’s the best, just playing other sports. I think it helped me more than anything just doing that.

You into soccer now?

I like following the GOATs, obviously like Messi, Ronaldo, all those guys, Neymar — but other than that, not really.

6. You were obviously at the University of Minnesota for a couple years. Were you into the school part or was it just a necessary track for hockey?

School-wise, my parents always prioritized school for me growing up. I missed hockey games. I remember vividly I was playing the (Chicago) Mission actually here and it was a game we lost that year, but I wasn’t there because I had to go to school and I was super pissed. But my parents would always preach that to me. I think it’s kind of what rounded me out as a human as well. I’m grateful for it now, but I was kind of pissed in the moment. But in college I took a major that I wasn’t necessarily super interested in.

What was that?

Business marketing. Maybe I’ll use it some way down the road, but I wish I would have gotten more of into the management side or something like that just cause that could be applicable to sports.

Do your parents think it’s important for you to go back to finish your degree?

That’s something I definitely want to do. It’s not something that they’re necessarily forcing me to do, but it’s definitely something I’m interested in.

Any classes really stand out in those two years?

We had a disability visibility class. We had a great teacher in that class. I remember reading a book about how people might have hidden disabilities that we don’t know about, and how often times as people we can sometimes presume other things about other people. I think that’s something that stuck out to me as a person, is to never go into a conversation with prerequisites about the other person, I think that’s a life thing. But other than that, I took an economics class that I actually hated. I’m not a math guy. So, yeah, there’s some classes that I actually took life lessons from. I think that’s an important thing in college, too.

7. You won two World Junior Championships. Now that you’re on the other side of that experience, do you have a different perspective of all that?

Honestly, it started for our group with U18s, when we won that. That was obviously really cool. And then winning the World Juniors, both the two I was fortunate enough to win, when you’re in it, you’re just kind of so focused on the group that you don’t really realize the magnitude of the tournament and the hockey community. We’re coming in here every morning, it’s on NHL Network, it seems like everyone’s talking about it, even within the locker room and stuff. I think that part of it’s cool.

You don’t really realize how much the hockey community rallies around it, watches it, and it’s definitely something that I think our group did a great job of when we were there — just blocking out the noise and kind of dialing it in. But yeah, it’s pretty cool to look back on, for sure.

Now as a pro, it seems like a bonding event for fellow countrymen and some little competition and wagering between others.

That’s a different part too, is you’re teammates with the guys from a ton of different countries. So, yeah, like we got guys from Sweden, Finland, Canada, obviously, and we definitely made some bets. I don’t know, honestly, I think I kind of got to wear a jersey at some point.

Oh yeah?

To the game.

Whose?

I think Connor’s (Bedard). We had a Canadian … But they didn’t win either, so I don’t know how it works. But it’s kind of cool, too. It’s a fun part of it.

8. Now that you’re in the NHL and have gotten paid, have you treated yourself to anything?

No, honestly. I honestly haven’t. I just don’t want to spend the money. I mean, I’m still a kid, I feel like I’m in that college mindset of, you know, I don’t need anything. Everything here honestly at the facilities is awesome and maybe a couple dinners or something like that. Yeah, nothing like a watch or a car or something. Nothing like that honestly, no.

9. Is there anything available to you in the NHL that you were surprised about?

I think for me, I’m a huge sauna, cold tub guy. So just being able to come in here and use the saunas and obviously the cold tub, that’s something if I were to buy it myself, it’d be pretty expensive. But you can come in and use that, I think that’s an underrated thing — even little recovery devices that we can use, like the Normatec or the Fireflys. When you come in here, we have the gym open to us … it’s just all so world-class. You I take a step back sometimes and be grateful for it.

10. You seem pretty comfortable doing media and down-to-earth. Where’s that come from? Is that something from within your family?

My family life was everything for me growing up. Without them, I’m nowhere near the person I am today, and obviously I’m still developing, and my parents are still my parents. They’re still humbling me in a lot of ways.

But I think, for me, having an older brother, Howie, he’s 16 months older than me, and I played hockey with him growing up, literally every day. I think the big thing was just having him to always remind me, you’re not that cool. He was always bigger, stronger, faster than me growing up until I got to high school and then I started lifting weights. Now I like to think I can take him, but he’s the best.

My little sister (Lila) too just always reminds me, there’s so many things you can take from her. She’s grounded as well, smart, she’s just funny, witty, she is always in the moment. There’s so many things you can take from your family, for sure.