As a Michigan fan and suburban Detroit native, Frank Nazar has spent his life listening to all about Tom Brady.
When the younger Blackhawks ahead thinks about what he’s attempting to grasp within the NHL — the game-management facet of issues, making the proper selections on the right occasions — he can’t assist however discover parallels to Brady.
“He is aware of how you can play the clock; he is aware of how you can play the sport,” Nazar stated Friday. “It’s nearly [about] bringing that to hockey and doing that on the ice, realizing when the time is correct to get the puck in and stuff like that.”
Nazar, 20, is aware of he has all of the pure expertise wanted to succeed. And after dominating the AHL the primary two months of the season, he has all the required confidence, too.
His problem is to study what works and what doesn’t in opposition to elite defenders — and to learn to navigate the NHL’s at all times evolving, high-intensity recreation conditions.
“Everybody has a fairly excessive IQ once you get to the NHL, clearly,” he stated. “If a play will get damaged up, it’s [about] coming again at it and doing it once more till it really works. That’s a part of [why] getting these video games in is actually useful. [I’m getting] up to the mark and understanding how guys play and the routine of issues.”
These game-management abilities would possibly require a couple of journeys forwards and backwards to beat. That is already his second NHL stint (after the top of final season), and contemplating he has been advantageous however unremarkable in 5 appearances, Hawks administration would possibly determine he wants extra seasoning earlier than changing into a fixture.
That’s OK, although. Even earlier than he was called up, one scout stated he believed a small dose of NHL expertise adopted by a return to Rockford could be finest for Nazar’s long-term growth.
In his 5 video games, he has no factors and two pictures on purpose, averaging just below 14 minutes of ice time.
Slotted because the second-line heart by Hawks interim coach Anders Sorensen, he principally has performed with Taylor Corridor and Tyler Bertuzzi, though that began to alter within the latter half of the Hawks’ 6-4 loss Saturday in Calgary.
Throughout five-on-five play, Nazar has a decent 46.2% scoring-chance ratio (18 for and 21 in opposition to), rating ninth amongst Hawks forwards throughout this span. His 33.7% shot ratio is significantly worse, although. Saturday was his roughest outing: The Flames generated a 7-1 scoring-chance benefit in opposition to him.
Smaller forwards (such because the 5-9 Nazar) who put up enormous numbers within the AHL generally battle to translate that manufacturing to the NHL as a result of they spend an excessive amount of time on the perimeter of the offensive zone. Within the NHL greater than wherever else, attending to the high-danger areas across the web is a vital ingredient for scoring.
In Nazar’s case, the truth that a lot of his AHL manufacturing originated across the web inspired scouts and administration that it might translate up a degree. Regardless of his dimension, he doesn’t shrink back from contact; he really thrives in tight areas.
Sorensen, whose teaching fueled a lot of Nazar’s success in Rockford, is nonetheless monitoring his ratio of perimeter-to-interior play carefully. He’s additionally urging him to shoot when he will get alternatives slightly than forcing passes, as he did to Corridor on one blatant event Thursday in opposition to the Kraken.
“Once you play with sure guys which were within the league for a very long time, you respect them and perhaps look to go to them when you might cling on to it your self and belief your individual instincts,” Sorensen stated Friday.
“We wish him attacking. He can rating targets. It’s a distinct league, clearly — [there are] greater D-men and smarter gamers — however I feel he has carried out a fairly good job of that total.”
