Frank Nazar twisted his neck in all directions to find the nearest wood.
The Blackhawks‘ rookie forward had just been told Monday he hasn’t yet allowed any goals on the penalty kill in the NHL this season. Finally identifying a panel behind his locker, he commanded the knocking on wood must commence to avoid a jinx.
“Dude, why would you say that?” Nazar joked.
The exchange exemplified Nazar’s simultaneously humble, lighthearted and confident personality. But it’s nonetheless true he has excelled on the penalty kill, which isn’t what one might expect from a young, undersized, offensively inclined center.
“He’s tenacious on the puck,” veteran Jason Dickinson said. “He makes good reads. He’s just a smart player in general. He’s able to go out there, understand what we’re trying to do as a group and adapt quickly to it.”
Said interim coach Anders Sorensen: “Frankie is sneaky fast. He doesn’t look like he’s motoring, but all of a sudden, he just takes off. That’s a big help, especially the way we kill, [since] we want to be pressuring up the ice.”
Since Nazar’s first NHL penalty-killing shift on Dec. 21, he has become part of the regular rotation with fellow forwards Dickinson, Ilya Mikheyev, Teuvo Teravainen and Nick Foligno. During last week’s road trip, rookie Landon Slaggert joined that group and Foligno’s duties were reduced.
Nazar’s statistics have been impressive. As mentioned, he hasn’t been on the ice for a single opposing power-play goal, making him one of only six players league-wide who have logged 15-plus minutes of shorthanded ice time and achieved that.
The Hawks’ penalty kill has allowed just 0.65 scoring chances per minute with Nazar on the ice, the lowest rate of any Hawks forward, while generating 0.19 shorthanded chances per minute, the highest rate of any Hawks forward.
“A big key for me [is] moving my feet,” Nazar said. “Once my feet aren’t moving, I’m not playing my game — it’s not my style. Being able to keep my feet moving and play aggressive, that’s just how I try to play, and it goes with how they want to play.”
One situation during the first period last Tuesday in Tampa demonstrated that well. After goalie Arvid Soderblom made a big save and the puck rebounded toward Nazar, he initially whiffed on a clearing attempt.
But he hustled after the puck, lifted Brayden Point’s stick and poked it out of the zone after all. Then he kept chasing it down the ice, forcing Lightning defenseman Darren Raddysh to make a desperate diving play to deny him a breakaway.
An example of Frank Nazar’s effective penalty-killing through pure hustle:
— Ben Pope (@benpopecst.bsky.social) 2025-02-04T21:30:02.940Z
Nazar hasn’t been afraid to forecheck hard into the offensive zone and/or pressure power-play breakouts in the neutral zone, either. On Jan. 8 against the Avalanche, for example, he set up a Teravainen shot off the crossbar after jumping behind Casey Mittelstadt and intercepting his lackadaisical drop pass.
“The biggest thing is denying them the blue line and making them dump it in or turn it over, and just using that to continue momentum and not let them set up,” Nazar said.
Nazar had primarily skated alongside either Dickinson or Mikheyev on his shorthanded shifts, but that might be changing to Slaggert now.
Sorensen watched Nazar and Slaggert terrorize opposing power plays in the AHL earlier this season, most memorably during a Rockford-versus-Milwaukee home-and-home set in October in which they produced a whopping four shorthanded breakaways (including Nazar’s first AHL goal).
Sorensen hopes the two of them can replicate that moving forward with the Hawks. The team’s 81.6% penalty-kill rate this season ranks 11th in the NHL, but they’re conversely tied for last with just one shorthanded goal.
“You’re going out there with their best five on offense, so there could be some room to score,” Nazar said. “But with our best intentions, obviously. We’re not just diving in.”