Just as Kirby Dach makes his first real impact for the Montreal Canadiens, scoring an overtime winner against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the player the Chicago Blackhawks got for him is going under the knife. Frank Nazar, the prospect that Chicago selected with the 13th overall pick this year, a pick acquired on draft day in exchange for Dach, will have surgery to fix a lower-body injury and could potentially miss the entire college hockey season, according to Scott Powers of The Athletic.
Powers’ information comes from Michigan interim head coach Brandon Naruato, who explained that Nazar was already injured when he arrived at school and will be out until at least February. The Wolverines will not rush back their freshman recruit, with Naurato explaining that he won’t be back until he’s 100 percent healthy.
Nazar, 18, is a brilliant offensive talent that was picked with the Blackhawks’ second of three first-round picks. Kevin Korchinski (7th overall), Nazar (13th), and Sam Rinzel (25th) lead an impressive 11-player draft class that has the potential to drive the rebuild timeline in Chicago. Eight of the picks were in the first 90 selections, and players like Nazar have high hopes for their star potential.
Missing an entire development year at this point can be devastating to the development of a prospect. While Nazar will still be included in team activities and will benefit from the world-class facilities at Michigan, missing out on this much game action at his age can severely limit his ceiling. We’ll have to wait and see what happens for Nazar, but it’s not a great start for the Chicago draft class.