When Could We See Frank Nazar Back In Chicago?

The Blackhawks are taking the slow approach with their rookie forward prospect, so when could we realistically see him back in Chicago?

By Jack Masters, IceHogs Analyst, @hogthought on X

ROCKFORD--It's no secret Frank Nazar has the highest ceiling of anyone currently on the Blackhawks depth chart not named Artyom Levshunov, Connor Bedard and maybe Alex Vlasic. After scoring on his first NHL-shot to kick off a 3-game stint with the Hawks last season, Frank came to Rockford with sky-high expections. Boy, has he met them.

14 games into his AHL-career, Nazar has 16 points. Yet, points alone don't illustrate the progress he has made. His playmaking abilty has always been his calling card. Strong vision of the ice paired with an elite passing-ability and tenacity on the fore-check has given Nazar the ability to play a creative, sometimes risky, game off the rush and in the O-zone. We've seen him attempt high-risk passes through traffic that sometimes find the tape of a teammate and other times find the defenders stick for a turnover. A good example of his play style is this set up pass from behind the Iowa Wild net that gave Cole Guttman a great look from the slot for a goal:

That sequence has everything from Frank. Fast on the breakout and through the neutral zone, finds Guttman to give himself space to set up the forecheck and off he goes. How often do you see a guy fore-check the goalie? Caps it off with an excellent half-blind pass. Plays like this are the confidence-building plays that Nazar benefits from in Rockford. He's also developing good habits like taking the easy play of getting the puck in deep and working for possession instead of keeping that puck himself over the blueline, risking a dead-on-arrival entry.

He's also coming around to show off his defensive play as well. His speed and skating are putting him in good spots on D as well and he's using his stick from those good spots to disrupt high-danger looks for opponents:

To cap the last few paragraphs off, Frank is playing well. Very well. His confidence is growing, he's creating excellent chemistry with guys like Landon Slaggert, Cole Guttman, Colton Dach, Levshunov and Korchinski and learning the pro game on and off the ice in a low-pressure environment. So why pull him away from that any-time soon?

Nazar is thriving in a prospect-laden Rockford locker room, creating valuable chemistry. (PC/IceHogs)

Amidst a struggle of a Blackhawks season, the calls for Nazar to be called-up have grown. The Blackhawks offense is anemic. The top-6 has struggled, Bedard is going through his first real slump. Is Frank Nazar the savior? Would you even want him to come up with that on his shoulders? Not a shot in my opinion.

We all knew from the start what this season would be for the Blackhawks, additions of free-agent veterans aside. The goal was for Bedard, Vlasic, Kaiser, etc. to get valuable minutes and continue to grow. Sure a couple more wins here and there would be nice, Bedard having more points would be too.

But, the solution to these struggles is not to pull a 20 year-old rookie out of an ideal situation in Rockford and thrust him into a terrible Blackhawks roster as a "savior". That would be an extreme Bowman-esque red-mark on Nazar's development. Not to mention just would not solve all the holes on a still-rebuilding Hawks roster. To those pointing to the many players that have skipped the AHL in general and thrived at the NHL, I say this: Who cares. Calling Frank up comes with risks, leaving him to marinate in Rockford does not.

So when could we see Frank? Well the one good thing for the Hawks this season has been health. Besides Laurent Brossoit, Seth Jones and a demoted-Athanasiou, the Hawks have been healthy. This provides them the luxury of not making any desperation call-ups. In terms of who comes up in case of an injury at forward, I'd think Cole Guttman, Slaggert, and maybe even Dach get the call before Nazar.

On the Hawks roster, they will probably have holes to fill post-deadline. Jason Dickinson, Taylor Hall, Craig Smith and maybe even Ryan Donato will be potential trade bait. This provides a perfect transition period for Nazar. It also allows them the chance to have Nazar on the Icehogs roster on trade deadline day, which doubles as the AHL playoff-roster deadline, giving Frank a chance to get playoff hockey experience if Rockford makes it that far.

Overall time will tell what happens with Frank Nazar III, but so far, so good.

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