{"id":108284,"date":"2025-08-25T06:54:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T06:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/108284\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T06:54:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T06:54:09","slug":"what-frank-nazars-contract-tells-us-about-blackhawks-approach-to-re-signing-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/108284\/","title":{"rendered":"What Frank Nazar’s contract tells us about Blackhawks’ approach to re-signing players"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Blackhawks<\/a>\u2019 front office has begun to establish one strength: re-signing players.<\/p>\n

Second-year forward Frank Nazar\u2019s contract extension Thursday<\/a>, which locked him in Chicago for seven more years \u2014 beyond this coming season \u2014 at a $6.59 million salary-cap hit, helped cement that pattern.<\/p>\n

The deal falls into the same category as the team-friendly contract young defenseman Alex Vlasic inked last summer: six years with a $4.6 million cap hit.<\/p>\n

In a separate category, but still contributing to the trend, is the contract that veteran forward Ryan Donato signed in June: four years with a $4 million cap hit.<\/p>\n

It had begun to look like Donato was heading to the open market, where he could\u2019ve cashed in due to the scarcity of good free agents this summer. The fact that the Hawks only had to compromise slightly on their initial $3.5 million offer to bring him back was relatively impressive.<\/p>\n

General manager Kyle Davidson fared well in all three negotiations. Chris O\u2019Hearn, who joined the Hawks\u2019 front office in January after earning a reputation as a great negotiator with the Wild, likely helped with the Donato and Nazar deals, as well.<\/p>\n

Earlier in Davidson\u2019s tenure, he overpaid substantially to persuade players to re-sign. The two-year extensions with cap hits between $4.25 and $4.5 million handed out to Nick Foligno, Jason Dickinson, Petr Mrazek and Andreas Athanasiou in 2023 and 2024 all fell in that bucket, with the latter two contracts aging especially poorly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the Vlasic, Donato and Nazar contracts are more meaningful indications of the regime\u2019s negotiating skill. Foligno, Dickinson, Mrazek and Athanasiou were signed for time periods during which the Hawks knew cap space would be a non-issue and reaching the cap floor would be more relevant. The same can\u2019t be said about the coming years.<\/p>\n

Davidson\u2019s front office has yet to translate this skill into bringing in outside free agents, though. They\u2019ve failed to woo most of their targets and whiffed badly on some of those they\u2019ve signed (such as T.J. Brodie).<\/p>\n

Next summer will present the next opportunity to change that narrative, and given how crucial a summer it could be for finally acquiring some established talent, the Hawks need to seize that chance.<\/p>\n

Connor McDavid, Cale Makar, Kirill Kaprizov, Artemi Panarin, Jack Eichel and Kyle Connor headline the NHL\u2019s loaded 2026 free-agent class. Although many of them will re-sign with their current clubs, it should still end up being a better class than the 2025 group.<\/p>\n

The Hawks will also need to work out new contracts for pending restricted free agents Connor Bedard, Kevin Korchinski and Spencer Knight, among others.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"General<\/p>\n

Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson (left) and his front office, including assistant GM Norm Maciver (right), have done well in internal contract negotiations.<\/p>\n

Michael Reaves\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Nazar\u2019s perspective<\/p>\n

The philosophy of signing Nazar to a seven-year deal after less than one year in the NHL \u2014 during which he had 26 points<\/a> in 53 games \u2014 is reminiscent of the Hurricanes\u2019 approach.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve done that a ton in recent years, with forward Jackson Blake being the most recent example. He had 34 points as a rookie last season, then signed an eight-year contract with a $5.12 million cap hit this summer.<\/p>\n

Davidson and Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky are indeed friends and frequent trade partners, so it wouldn\u2019t be surprising to see Davidson continue to try to replicate Tulsky\u2019s tactics.<\/p>\n

Just 56 NHL appearances into Nazar\u2019s career, it\u2019s too early to declare how good of a player he\u2019ll be in, say, 2028 \u2014 much less in 2032, when his contract expires. That\u2019s the inherent risk in the investment.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s also a potentially high reward. If Nazar takes another big step forward and doubles his production this season, the Hawks will suddenly have a bargain contract on their hands.<\/p>\n

Plus, a $6.6 million cap hit will become increasingly less prohibitive as the cap rises. When it kicks in in 2026-27, it\u2019ll occupy 6.3% of the projected team cap ($104 million) \u2014 the same percentage a $5.3 million cap hit occupied in 2023-24, for example. By 2031-32, it\u2019ll occupy an even smaller percentage.<\/p>\n

Frank Nazar on his contract extension: “I’m going to go into each day and each season thinking I’m the best. I don’t think anything changes for me. I’m the same me.” pic.twitter.com\/99yFC0Fq7B<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) August 22, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

From Nazar\u2019s perspective, it was difficult to decide whether to sign this summer or to wait and bet on himself raising his value.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always go into everything thinking I\u2019m the best,\u201d Nazar said Friday. \u201cBecause the day you don\u2019t think you\u2019re the best, you probably shouldn\u2019t be playing hockey. You\u2019ve got to have that confidence and know you can do this and [believe] you\u2019re going to beat any guy out there. That was the part that took the longest, trying to figure out what I wanted to do in that regard.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019m always a man of making the best decision at any time [with] the best odds. It wasn\u2019t hard when you put all that stuff together to look at it \u2014 in the long run \u2014 and see that I could be in Chicago for seven years, playing with the team basically of my dreams in a city I want to be, with a crew you want to be with.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the end, he essentially guaranteed a life-changing amount of money for him and his family, and he eliminated a possible distraction from his on-ice play during the coming year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anything really changes for me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the same me, same exact everything. It\u2019s just a little bonus for my play and what I can do. I\u2019m still super motivated and want to be the best player I can be. Now I just want to win more than I did last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has spent most of the summer training at Fifth Third Arena since winning gold with Team USA at the world championships in May. His takeaways from that tournament have stuck with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you play with a team that close and that talented, it\u2019s truly special,\u201d Nazar said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I want to bring to Chicago and to the team here. Everyone gets that taste of winning and that feeling of what it\u2019s like to come together as a team, and that\u2019s something I want to focus on.\u201d<\/p>\n