Let’s Talk About the Blackhawks Putting Frank Nazar and Oliver Moore Back Together ...Middle East

When the Blackhawks began their rebuild a three years ago, general manager Kyle Davidson told us he was going to build a fast team that could skate with anyone. In each of Davidson’s draft classes, the Blackhawks have targeted exceptional skaters.

Frank Nazar and Oliver Moore were widely viewed as the best skaters in their respective draft classes. The Blackhawks landing them in the first rounds of their drafts felt like the stars were aligning at the time; the video clip of Davidson pumping his fist when Moore was available at the 19th overall pick in 2023 after trying to move up specifically to get him has become a bit of a legend on social media.

As their prospect journeys began, there were many Blackhawks fans and scouting analysts who dreamt of the two skating together on a line. Now we’re starting to see it at the NHL level.

Both of these young Blackhawks forwards are known for their speed, but neither of them has really let it fly yet this year. Here are their skating speed numbers and rankings from NHL Edge. Keep in mind that the ranks are based on the entire league; Moore’s ranks are significantly impacted by him having appeared in only 14 games.

I’ve talked to Nazar about playing with Moore a couple times. Nazar told me Moore is a loud skater, and that he can hear Moore coming up the ice like a train. After the game in Vegas, Moore and Nazar talked about playing together.

Both of the Blackhawks’ young forwards said the same thing about skating with each other (and Tyler Bertuzzi):

“We can put ‘D’ on their heels a good amount with our speed,” Moore said. “We can drive in and we can forecheck hard. We have a lot of options, especially playing with a guy like Bert — he really supports us all over the ice. It’s fun to play with them.”

“He’s so fast,” Nazar said. “It’s fun to play with him.”

Blackhawks getting up to speed

Another element of their games that I like is their attention to detail. Lots of people questioned Moore’s finishing ability coming out of Minnesota based on the back of his hockey card stats without recognizing that the Gophers used him in a variety of roles. Some nights, Moore would be the third line center. Others, he would be a wing on the top line.

Both Moore and Nazar play a defensively responsible game. So hearing Moore take ownership of Vegas’ third goal on Tuesday night wasn’t a surprise.

Oliver Moore said he "felt confident from the jump" tonight. His line with Nazar and Bertuzzi was really clicking.He took responsibility for bad line change on the tying goal, though. "That was an awful change. That's the difference between a winning game and a losing game."

While Moore took some personal ownership of the bad line change, head coach Jeff Blashill noted that he was not the only individual who missed an assignment in that moment. As usual, it’s a collective effort when mistakes end up in the back of the net.

After the Vegas game, Blashill was asked about the two together. He certainly made it sound like the organization likes the idea of Moore and Nazar being on the same line for a while.

“We hope, long-term, the speed of Moore and Nazar can be something over the course of the season that can be real effective,” Blashill said. “They both play real fast. Bert is a really good, accountable, smart player who can put pucks into areas for those guys, and help sort the line a little bit.

The first sentence in that answer from Blashill is the fans’ hope as well: that, long term, Moore and Nazar can turn the ice at the United Center into the Indy Motor Speedway.

But the next two sentences from Blashill on Tuesday night are the kicker:

“We’ve used it a little bit. It hasn’t come to fruition yet the way we’d like it to, but we’re hoping it gets there.”

Looking at Nazar and Moore together at 5-on-5 this season at Natural Stat Trick, the numbers aren’t overwhelming but there are some positive signs.

Obviously Nazar has spent a great deal more time on the ice in the NHL this season without Moore than they have together or even Moore has without him. But what I like to see is that the shots for and, more importantly, high danger chances for percentages are up for Nazar when he’s on the ice with Moore.

That’s what the Blackhawks want to see.

Their on-ice PDO indicates they’ve been relatively unlucky together as well.

Let ’em fly

Young players’ games are going to evolve. There are going to be good nights and bad nights. Roles changing will influence their production. That’s certainly been the case for Moore since the Blackhawks called him up from Rockford.

This is the third time in less than one calendar month I’m digging into the numbers for Moore. After his first multi-point game in the NHL, I wrote about Moore making a consistent impact.

After the Blackhawks lost their fifth consecutive game (10 days later), I took a step back and looked at how Moore’s individual numbers and usage were making me wonder if he might get a quick trip back to the IceHogs to get back into a consistent top-six role.

I wrote that second piece because I see Moore’s game best situated as an impactful player on one of the Blackhawks’ top two lines. And he wasn’t necessarily getting those opportunities during that stretch of games; his number were impacted by the role changes.

Since he’s got back on the line with Nazar — where he was skating primarily when I wrote the first piece about him being consistent — the speed game has played well for both.

They’re still young. And they’re still going to have to learn how to play with each other’s speed at the NHL level. Nazar admitted as much after the Vegas game.

“I had a few chances today (where) I should have found him,” Nazar said. “He’s sneaky; he gets behind the guys. Just got to do a better job finding him.”

With three more games on this road trip — two in Los Angeles and one in Anaheim — the Blackhawks have a good opportunity to continue reinforcing this chemistry. Let Nazar and Moore (with Bertuzzi) continue spending time together.

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