Frank Nazar is on the struggle bus right now for the Chicago Blackhawks. He hasn’t scored a goal since Oct. 28 — a stretch of 17 games. And some fans have extrapolated from his goal scoring woes that he isn’t playing well in other areas of the game.
Since he returned from the injury he suffered in Calgary, Nazar has nine assists in 12 games; he has assists in eight of the 12 games. He’s put 23 shots on net over that span, but none of them have found the back of the net.
Do the Blackhawks need Nazar to score goals? Yes. Absolutely they do. That’s a long 17 games for a young player, and he’s had some good looks at the net.
But after reading and responding to the comments section on here and on social media over the past couple days, I feel like we need to take a moment to address a growing issue. Nazar is okay, folks. Just because he isn’t scoring goals doesn’t mean he’s playing “bad” hockey.
Against the Anaheim Ducks, Nazar spent the biggest amount of his ice time at 5-on-5 was spent skating against the Ducks’ best offensive line: Cutter Gauthier, Mason McTavish and Beckett Sennecke. He was on the ice against those three forwards for roughly 5 minutes at even strength. They scored zero goals against Nazar.
Gauthier, who has been credited with 39 more shots on net this season than any other Ducks player, had zero shots on net. The Blackhawks had a 4-2 shots on goal ADVANTAGE over the Ducks’ best offensive line when it was skating against Nazar.
Nazar’s line with Oliver Moore and Tyler Bertuzzi was the Blackhawks’ best line by a fairly significant margin in that game. In a game in which the 5-on-5 Corsi numbers ended 72-26 in favor of the Ducks, that Blackhawks line skated 8:25 of break-even hockey (8 attempts for/against). At 5-on-5, the Blackhawks were out-shot 42-17 in the game. While Nazar’s line was on the ice: 5-2 in favor of the Blackhawks.
Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn ImagesYoung players go thru tough stretches where matchups aren’t favorable. And Nazar’s terrific start to the season means he’s now seeing stronger defensive matchups on a nightly basis — especially on the road.
For example: when the Blackhawks came back and beat the Ducks in Chicago, Nazar still faced a steady diet of McTavish and Sennecke. But the Blackhawks skated him more against Ryan Strome than Gauthier at the United Center. Nazar had a favorable night against McTavish and Sennecke in Chicago at 5-on-5 as well.
On Saturday night in Los Angeles, the matchup Nazar saw most was the Fiala-Byfield-Armia line. That was an adjustment by the Kings’ coaches after Nazar’s line was very good in the previous game — in which Nazar saw more of Phillip Danault and Warren Foegele.
Nazar is still playing his first full NHL season this year. There is still going to be a learning curve for him, as there was for Connor Bedard his sophomore year when the league adjusted to him.
I encourage fans to watch for more than when a guy scores a goal. There are a lot of things Nazar is doing well right now, even if the goal horn isn’t telling you it happened.
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