The Blackhawks have struggled against almost every NHL team in recent years, but few more so than the Blues and Wild.
So it’s exciting that young forward Frank Nazar seems to play his best hockey against those two close division rivals. He’s already a thorn in their sides, and he appears destined to torment them for the next decade.
Nazar tallied two points in two games against the Wild last season, then buried four goals in two preseason matchups this fall. He didn’t do much against the Blues last season, but his goal in the second period of the Hawks’ 8-3 romp Wednesday in St. Louis won’t be forgotten for a while.
After Wyatt Kaiser and Tyler Bertuzzi jumpstarted a defensive-zone breakout, Nazar skated 150 feet from his own blue line to the opposing net, rendering Blues forward Jake Neighbours’ defensive efforts futile when pushed through Neighbours’ stick and sniped the top corner.
He ran into Blues goalie Joel Hofer a half-second afterward, prompting Neighbours to tackle him from behind. But during the ensuing scrum, Nazar escaped and made sure to celebrate in front of a stunned Enterprise Center.
“I had a few other chances earlier in the game where I kind of backed off,” Nazar said later. “That time, I was like, ‘I’m just going to take it to the bank.'”
GOAL: Frank Nazar scores, fights, and cellys all in one sequence. Oh my pic.twitter.com/aoE7tQ440u
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) October 16, 2025
As that sequence proved, Nazar has the swagger and charisma to back up his talent with some grandiosity. It’s not excessive, but as he and the Hawks improve, it could easily get under the skin of opponents.
And he seems like the type who might occasionally enjoy being a villain.
“Honestly, I just be myself,” he said. “If that’s what they view me as, then that’s fine.”
Nazar’s showmanship is a perfect foil to fellow Hawks star Connor Bedard’s more private, understated personality, even if Bedard has added much-needed toughness and attitude this season. They complement each other well.
TNT’s panel of analysts — which spent all night raving about the Hawks’ year-over-year transformation — picked up on that, referring to them as the “NHL’s new Batman and Robin” during a joint interview on the postgame show.
It’s telling that, in the national discussion, the Hawks aren’t being called “Bedard and Co.” as much anymore. Now they’re “Bedard, Nazar and Co.”
That’s a significant change, and one that bodes very well for the long-term success of the overall rebuild. Nazar’s rapid rate of growth is opening new doors.
Previously, one of the rebuild’s biggest weaknesses was a lack of high-end forward talent beyond Bedard, especially after they opted to draft defenseman Artyom Levshunov instead of forward Ivan Demidov with the No. 2 pick in 2024. Selecting Anton Frondell last summer helped, but Frondell is still seen more as a complementary power forward than as a dominant play-driver.
Nazar has always been a high-profile prospect within the Hawks’ system, but his just-OK college production suggested he might not have NHL star potential.
Just 16 months since the Levshunov pick, however, Nazar is smashing through his perceived ceiling. He’s a dangerous second-line center already at age 21, and he’s only getting better.
He has six points in five games so far this season, maintaining his lofty pace from the end of last season. ESPN analyst John Buccigross boldly tweeted last April he could imagine Nazar “sniffing point-per-game numbers” in 2025-26, and that prediction is looking more believable by the day.
From a team perspective, Nazar’s ceaseless hustle and grit — in addition to his scoring and playmaking contributions — are contagious, too. That will help the Hawks finally create an identity after years of failing to do so.
They’re still not analytics darlings, given they rank 29th in the league with a 42.2% scoring-chance ratio. But determination and resilience matter, and they possess those traits in spades.
