The first of many extensions for the Blackhawks young stars came as Frank Nazar signed a seven year, $6.59 million AAV deal with Chicago, locking him down as one of the future faces of the franchise in Chi-town. As Chicago’s young core begins to blossom, Frank Nazar’s deal is only the star of what’s to come in the Windy city.
Nazar, who was the Blackhawks 13th overall pick in the 2022 NHL draft courtesy of the Kirby Dach trade has impressed so far in a Blackhawks jersey, scoring 27 points in 56 games while becoming a clear key part of their future. Whether Nazar’s extension will dictate the Blackhawks future deals isn’t certain, but with face of the franchise Connor Bedard’s extension looming, a deal in the region of $10-13 million looks very likely, but it is the other rookies who are approaching new deals which remains interesting.
Lukas Reichel, Kevin Korchinski, and Nolan Allan are just some of the rookies who are approaching the end of their rookie deals next summer, not to mention those like Artyom Levshunov, Sam Rinzel, and Oliver Moore in the future, and as Nazar becomes the first to commit to the future of the Blackhawks, it seems like the extensions will be flooding in for the Hawks in the coming years.
As far as extensions go, Nazar’s deal is a stroke of brilliance by general manager Kyle Davidson, and a few more nifty deals like that will only make for a very successful rebuild to come. With some of their biggest contracts set to come to an end, alongside the rising salary cap, the contracts will start to flood in for Chicago, and for Blackhawks fans, Nazar’s extension shows the rebuild is starting to get real.
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