SUNRISE, Fla. — Yes, Frank Nazar is a sensational skater with a quick first step and blistering straight-line speed. Yes, he’s aggressive in the offensive zone with a knack for putting the puck in the net. Yes, he’s found some natural chemistry with Connor Bedard on the Blackhawks’ top line, something it’s fun to imagine sticking for the next, oh, 10 years or so.
But it’s possible that none of those highly sought-after skills is Nazar’s most critical attribute. Lots of young players are fast and can score, after all. But not a lot of young players have Nazar’s unerring confidence.
It’s not arrogance — he’s highly coachable, he listens, he processes. It’s not stubbornness — he adapts, he learns.
You’re just not going to get Nazar down. You’re not going to wipe that smile off his face and you’re not going to get him to crawl inside his own head and start doubting himself.
So when interim head coach Anders Sorensen has a chat with Nazar following one of the roughest games of his young career — when the Carolina Hurricanes ran roughshod over him, as they do so many players young and old — Nazar took it in the spirit it was intended: constructive, helpful, necessary. A short time later, he was off the ice and in the locker room, big smile on his face as always.
And when Nazar gets bumped from that top line in favor of fellow rookie Landon Slaggert, as he was during the Blackhawks’ uninspiring 5-1 loss to the defending champion Florida Panthers on Saturday afternoon, there won’t be any wallowing, any doubting.
“Good habit, right?” Sorensen said. “That’s a good attribute to have as a person, right? I think he’s got a real good demeanor. He understands. Even talking to him (at Friday’s practice), we talked about (the Carolina) game and how it wasn’t where we want it to be. OK, it’s a new day, turn the page and move on, right? For a young guy that’s impressive.”
Why would Nazar sulk? He’s in the NHL at 21 years old, and he doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. When he was called up from Rockford in mid-December, he wasn’t sure if it would be for a quick cup of coffee or for the rest of his career. Twenty-three games later, Nazar’s been a fixture in the top six. Win or lose, play well or play poorly, exhausted by the grind or not, it sure beats one of those bus trips to Grand Rapids — four hours each way with a game in between, all in one day, all the day after a home game.
That’s one of the first things Nazar noticed about being in the NHL — the lifestyle.
“Honestly, it’s a little busier, but the travel’s a lot easier on our bodies here,” he said. “It might be a little bit more travel, but in the AHL, you’re busing and playing back-to-back games on weekends. But the games are a lot different.”
Ah, yes, the games. Nazar was tearing it up in the AHL, with 11 goals and 13 assists in 21 games. He was named an AHL All-Star. And while nobody’s saying it’s easy to play in the AHL, it’s certainly a lot harder in the NHL. There’s nothing in the AHL quite like Carolina’s Mikko Rantanen barreling down the wing, or Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk going hard on the forecheck. Off the ice, you’ve got to take better care of your body — eat right, sleep right, prepare right. But on the ice, there’s no coasting, no energy conservation. It’s go-go-go at all times.
“The league is relentless,” Sorensen said.
Nazar already had learned that, but got a rough reminder in Raleigh and Sunrise.
“In the ‘A’, you can sit back a little bit and kind of let the play develop,” he said. “Here, you’ve got to keep moving, you’ve got to stay on your guy, you’ve got to keep your feet going and stay on the puck. You don’t get as much rest during your shift, which is something I had to get used to and understand the first couple of games. But I feel a lot better with that, a lot more confident with it and I’ve been doing a good job of it.”
Nazar scored a goal in his three-game stint at the end of last season, but it took him 12 games for him to bury his first NHL goal of this season. At that point, he only had two assists to his name, too. His confidence wasn’t wavering, but his frustration was mounting a bit.
But that quickly changed as he was elevated to Bedard’s line. A four-game stretch from Jan. 18-26 in which he had two goals and three assists calmed any rising tension he might have felt.
“It obviously feels really good to be able to know I can put up numbers like that and put the puck in the back of the net,” he said. “You’ve got to earn it, and it’s all about how hard you work and how willing you are to put that work in. Consistency is the biggest thing up here. You’ve got to show up each and every night, every shift. You’ve got to treat your body well and take care of yourself. It’s a tough league, you’re traveling around every other day, almost. It’s a different city every couple of nights. Being able to take care of yourself, show up and just be a pro, that’s the major thing.”
FRANK NAZAR, EVERYONE😤 pic.twitter.com/pQP3JT9RQf
— Blackhawks on CHSN (@CHSN_Blackhawks) January 25, 2025
Whether Nazar stays in Chicago for the rest of the season or not, whether he gets back to the top line or not, whether he has a four-game point streak or a two-game struggle session, Nazar believes in himself and what he can do at this level. That’s a rare trait for a player who just turned 21, and one that should serve him well throughout the ups and downs of his rookie season and beyond.
“You have to take those lessons,” he said. “You’re not going to play great your whole life. There’s going to be a game every now and then in any league that you’re going to feel bad and not be at your best. The best thing to do is just learn from it, move on, and keep on going. It’s pretty awesome looking back and thinking I’ve got 25 games under my belt. It’s pretty cool. I’m just trying to keep learning and keep being a better pro, keep getting better.”
• Halfway through the first period of Saturday’s game, Florida was outshooting Chicago 17-2. By the end of the first period, the Panthers had outshot the Blackhawks 22-3, out-attempted them 47-9, out-chanced them 28-5, and had a staggering 15 high-danger chances to the Blackhawks’ one, per Natural Stat Trick. It didn’t get a heck of a lot better from there, and if not for a 39-save by Petr Mrázek, it could have been a lot uglier.
It was the fourth time in the last eight games the Blackhawks have given up at least 40 shots on goal. Chicago looked flat-footed and helpless against Florida’s forecheck, and looked alarmingly passive defensively for most of the game. Even stalwart defender Alex Vlasic has been struggling lately. He passed the puck right to Florida’s Evan Rodrigues from behind the goal for the backbreaker 10 seconds into the third period.
“It’s not just him, though, right?” Sorensen said of Vlasic. “It’s a group effort. So maybe he’s the one that gets exposed, but it’s more of a group thing. There needs to be layers to help.”
• Slaggert set a new franchise record for the fastest goal scored in a game, bursting through the Panthers defense off the opening faceoff, taking a Ryan Donato pass and beating Sergei Bobrovsky five-hole just seven seconds in. The previous Blackhawks record was set by Brent Sutter in 1995, at eight seconds.
Consider Slaggert a fan of matinees.
“Yeah, I do enjoy them,” he said. “Just kind of get right to the hockey, right to the action. Not much time to lay around.”
• Louis Crevier left the game in the first period after being boarded by Florida’s Jonah Gadjovich and didn’t return. That left the Blackhawks with just five defensemen, forcing Connor Murphy — playing his first game since the Winter Classic — to play 23 minutes, 30 seconds. Murphy said he felt fine physically, but obviously wasn’t thrilled with the defensive effort as a team.
Rookies Nolan Allan and Ethan Del Mastro were both scratched, while veterans Murphy and TJ Brodie were in. Juggling the youngsters versus the veterans has been tricky for Sorensen, who said little “resets” are good for the rookies.
Sometimes, there can be some pushback from young and old alike.
“The communication is a big part of it,” he said. “Where we see it, we don’t always agree on everything. But this is where we see it. They’ve been good, though. Everybody’s been understanding, but everybody wants to play every day.”
(Top photo of Frank Nazar and Florida’s Niko Mikkola: Eliot J. Schechter / NHLI via Getty Images)
