{"id":152130,"date":"2025-09-12T19:18:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T19:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/152130\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T19:18:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T19:18:06","slug":"blackhawks-sam-rinzel-achieved-another-level-of-strength-entering-nhl-rookie-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/152130\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackhawks’ Sam Rinzel achieved ‘another level of strength’ entering NHL rookie season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cal Dietz has an interesting theory about Blackhawks<\/a> defenseman Sam Rinzel.<\/p>\n

Dietz, the head strength coach for the University of Minnesota\u2019s hockey programs, has spent the last three summers training Rinzel, helping him evolve from an 18-year-old fresh out of high school into a 21-year-old preparing for his first full NHL season. In Dietz\u2019s mind, however, those ages don\u2019t tell the full story.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey drafted him at 18, but he might\u2019ve been biologically 16 or 17,\u201d Dietz said this week. \u201cIf he\u2019s a couple years behind, he\u2019s going to be developing longer. So what you have this year and next year I don\u2019t feel is going to be the limit. It\u2019s going to be three to five years down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

What he means is Rinzel\u2019s rapid development over the past few years \u2014 which has transformed him from someone many scouts considered a reach with the 25th pick in 2022 into a budding star who might be a top-10 player from that class \u2014 suggests he\u2019s not close to his physical peak yet.<\/p>\n

Dietz frequently encounters the reverse situation, in which 18-year-olds are biologically more like 20 or 21 \u2014 closer to their physical peak than anyone realizes \u2014 and they plateau once they get to college. That\u2019s always a bummer. But Rinzel\u2019s potential gets him excited.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Soon to ripe, soon to rot,\u2019 is the rule that I have,\u201d Dietz added. \u201cHe\u2019s a late bloomer…[and] what I\u2019ve seen from late bloomers is there\u2019s a longer career because there\u2019s more upswing time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strength training has been a critical ingredient in Rinzel\u2019s development because he was such a raw, lanky specimen at first. It has taken much effort to fill out his 6-4 frame.<\/p>\n

He took a big step forward with that this summer, going from 180 pounds at the end of last season to 195 pounds entering Hawks rookie camp this week. Rinzel said protein shakes were one key to that: \u201cIt\u2019s always easier to drink the calories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hard work in the gym was another key.<\/p>\n

\u201cSam had to realize he had to get strong, especially with his long legs,\u201d Dietz said. \u201cA lot of guys will joke around and have fun while they\u2019re [working out], but he was all business. He went from one thing to the next. I like that. He\u2019s goal-oriented.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think he would put another level of strength on like this, but he did.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the end of the offseason, Rinzel was lifting over 800 pounds with a single-leg squat bar, for example, which is 200 pounds more than average. He also excelled in terms of lateral speed, which is often a challenge for taller guys.<\/p>\n

Dietz believes Rinzel\u2019s eventual ideal weight might be around 200 to 205 pounds, based on his height and bone size. But 195 pounds at least puts him in the right range for a pro athlete.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at him, it\u2019s good weight,\u201d Dietz said. \u201cOn top of those 15 [extra] pounds, now those 15 pounds are moving faster. And he\u2019s more agile, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the ice, Rinzel said he worked this summer on his shot, altering his stick angle to find holes through traffic when shooting from the point, as well as being \u201charder to play against\u201d in the defensive zone.<\/p>\n

External expectations for his NHL rookie season, based on his stellar play<\/a> while handling 23 minutes per night during his nine-game cameo in April, have gotten almost too high. The Athletic recently ranked him fifth in a list of Calder Trophy candidates.<\/p>\n

But as crazy as that sounds, it does genuinely seem justified. If he impresses during main training camp, Rinzel may well open the season on the Hawks\u2019 top power-play unit and the first defensive pairing, giving him plenty of opportunity to prove himself as an organizational cornerstone for the long haul.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cal Dietz has an interesting theory about Blackhawks defenseman Sam Rinzel. Dietz, the head strength coach for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-152130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}