On December 8, the Chicago Blackhawks finally sent down Sam Rinzel to Rockford (Landon Slaggert got sent back, too). Rinzel certainly had his tires pumped by both the Chicago Blackhawks beat, Frank Seravalli, and me. He played an impressive nine-game stretch at the end of the NHL regular season after playing some NCAA hockey. Struggles were expected, and they manifested themselves; and now Rinzel finds himself in Rockford.

This move isn’t worth getting upset about. In fact, it’s welcomed. Rinzel looked overwhelmed in the defensive zone and was often turned into a meat crayon on the boards. This clearly impacted his offensive game because he didn’t look as confident as he did during that “magical” run (the one where people called him Chicago’s Brock Faber). And that makes sense, teams play differently at the end of the regular season.

Let’s look at numbers real quick (5v5, of course). Rinzel had a goal differential rate (relative to teammate) of +.31/60. Not great, but third best among Hawk defensemen. Rinzel started 55.43% of his shifts in the offensive zone, according to Natural StatTrick. That’s third-highest on the team after Artyom Levshunov and Matt Grzelcyk. Rinzel had a 44.6% expected goals share (eighth best on the team), a 50.34% actual goals share (fifth best on the team), an expected goals against rate of 3.26/60 (fifth highest on the team), and an actual goals against rate of 3.14/60 (also fifth highest). Where he stacks in the league is in the third percentile in defense among defensemen (according to Evolving Hockey… and I hope this picture doesn’t load too big).

So there’s some defensive work for Rinzel, and he’ll figure that out in Rockford. I do wonder how Jeff Blashill’s seven defenseman approach has impacted his pairs. Not specifically for Rinzel, he’d look lost either way. I doubt a consistent partner would have helped him improve much.

More questionable was who the Blackhawks brought up. Dominic Toninato was called up for “veteran depth.” Isn’t that what Sam Lafferty is here for? Or Jason Dickinson? I thought the kids were going to take over this year? Nick Lardis is getting the “over-marinating” treatment in Rockford. With 11 goals and 24 points in 22 games, you’d think he’d get a look, right? That might deserve a post in and of itself.