Blackhawks prospect updates: Assessing Frank Nazar's play as college season nears end

SAN JOSE, Calif. — When the Blackhawks drafted Frank Nazar in 2022, his speed was one of the biggest reasons why.

As time has gone on, the Hawks have worked with him on using that speed to his advantage in a wider variety of ways.

“A lot of times, you’ll see that explosiveness when it’s time to transition from defense to offense — like hitting a hole to get himself open offensively to receive a pass,” Hawks assistant general manager Mark Eaton said this week.

“Now it’s about [getting him] using that explosiveness to transition from offense to defense. When the puck is turned over, it’s about having that mindset of wanting to jump into a good defensive position and be sound in that regard.”

Nazar — the Hawks’ No. 1 prospect at the moment — is technically entering the stretch run of his sophomore year at Michigan, but it’s functionally more like the stretch run of his freshman year, considering he missed the vast majority of last season recovering from hip surgery and didn’t feel 100% again until last summer.

Eaton can’t spill the beans about whether the Hawks plan to sign Nazar after this season or send him back to Michigan for more seasoning in 2024-25. He can, however, offer an honest assessment of Nazar’s play, which peaked in December and January — during and immediately after the world junior championships — but has encountered some turbulence since.

“It’s just a matter of learning from the down spurts within a season, [like] why they happen and how to rectify it and limit those types of games going forward,” Eaton said.

“Every game Frankie has played hasn’t been perfect, but he’s always very good with his self-awareness and self-assessment. He realizes when he wasn’t at his best and asks questions to learn about how he can improve going forward. There’s always positives you can take, even if production and numbers are down and the elite play isn’t there game-in and game-out.”

Nazar has tallied 37 points in 37 games this season overall but only three points in his last 10 games. He will have a chance to erupt on the biggest stages, though, when Michigan faces Michigan State in the Big Ten championship Saturday and likely competes in the NCAA Tournament after that.

It would probably be hyperbolic to say Nazar’s performance over the next few weeks will matter more to the Hawks’ long-term future than the actual Hawks’ performance in NHL games. At the least, though, Nazar’s performance will probably matter more than any individual Hawks player’s performance.

Kantserov surging

Roman Kantserov wasn’t a well-publicized prospect when the Hawks drafted him 44th last summer, but the Russian forward has so far validated the Hawks’ gamble with an impressive season.

“He can really get his shot off,” Eaton said. “He has really good offensive instincts. With quickness combined with skill, he’s a slippery player in the offensive zone and he can create offense. He has a lot of attributes that you look for in top-six players.”

He has graduated into a full-time player in the KHL, a league that teenage prospects often have a difficult time cracking. He tallied 15 points in 53 regular-season games for Metallurg Magnitogorsk before catching fire in the playoffs, accumulating five points in eight games so far.

“He has earned an expanded role,” Eaton said. “He at times averaged single-digit minutes in games, but lately, he’s been in the mid-teens. That’s a testament to him earning his coach’s trust.”

He signed a two-year contract extension with Magnitogorsk that will keep him overseas until at least 2026, but the Hawks believe he’s “excited about the eventual opportunity to come over” to North America.

Gajan feeling adversity

Goaltender Adam Gajan, another second-round pick last summer, has conversely not enjoyed the kind of 19-year-old season he hoped for with Green Bay in the USHL.

His 20-10-4 record looks fine, but his save percentage has slipped to .893 after a particularly poor recent stretch. He didn’t get to start either of Green Bay’s games last weekend as a result.

“It’s one of the first things we talk about in development camp: nobody’s path to the NHL is an easy one that’s not going to have setbacks,” Eaton said. “Adam has had what he’d consider some bad games.”

The good news is Gajan has plenty of time to turn things around. He’s headed to Minnesota-Duluth next season and will most likely be there for three years, by which point there will be far more data indicating whether or not he has NHL potential. Either way, his rough winter 2024 will be long forgotten.

“Our expectation from him is to use this as a turning point...to make himself better,” Eaton said.

More updates

Nick Lardis, a 2023 third-round pick, has been sidelined since mid-January with a broken wrist, disrupting an excellent season in which he had tallied 50 points in 37 OHL games for Brantford. But he is expected to return in the playoffs, Eaton said.

Ryan Greene, a 2022 second-round pick, has followed up his impressive freshman season at Boston University with a nearly identical sophomore season (at least statistically), tallying 31 points in 35 games. He’s another guy the Hawks might sign after this season or might send back for his junior year.

Alex Pharand, a 2023 fourth-round pick, has had a disappointing season production-wise, but the Hawks aren’t too concerned because they see him as a fourth-line grinder if he does eventually reach the NHL.

“It’s [about] walking that balance, developing some of the offensive attributes to his game but having the foundation being high-intensity, getting in hard on the forecheck [and] finishing checks,” Eaton said about Pharand.