Frank Nazar is off to a good start to the season in the American League with 24 points in 20 games. His production ranks him first among rookies and fifth in the AHL.
Why am I telling you about Nazar? This is the player that the Chicago Blackhawks selected with one of the two picks in the 2022 draft, the thirteenth overall, that the Canadian gave up for Kirby Dach.
This choice was obtained from the New York Islanders in return for defender Alex Romanov as well as CH’s fourth round choice, the 98th, which became defender Isaiah George.
The second was a third-round pick, 66th overall, with which Chicago drafted forward Gavin Hayes.
So, if we summarize, the Canadian gave Romanov (or a 13th pick depending on your point of view), a third and a fourth pick to acquire Dach.
It’s still a high price to pay, especially since the great striker is having a difficult, if not disastrous, season. In 27 games, he has only one goal for a meager total of eight points and above all, a differential of minus 21. Ouch!
For the guy we were sold during the offseason as the team’s second established center, that’s pretty disappointing.
Yes, Dach is coming back from a long injury and that of Patrik Laine forced him to play part of the season with allies who are not top six material (not to mention Alex Newhook who is also having a difficult season ).
However, after three games since Laine’s return, Dach has no points on his record playing with the Finn.
And meanwhile, Romanov is doing a good job defensively with the Islanders playing an average of 21:35 minutes per game on the top pair of defensemen. The kind of defender the Canadian could really use right now.
Although the exchange made sense from a reconstruction point of view, for the moment it is really not the best move by Kent Hughes. On the other hand, if Frank Nazar becomes a star player in the NHL, he is a trade which could also hurt us in the long term.
But hey, this is all hypothetical. A good start in the AHL is absolutely no guarantee of a good career in the National Line.
-Furthermore, I believe that patience should be advocated with Dach. It’s not easy to recover from a double ligament tear in the knee and you have to give it time to regain its beat and hope that he returns to the same level of play before his injury.
In burst
– What a pass!
– Things are bad in Buffalo!
– Already thirteen goals for Gaudette.
– Victory for the Steelers over their section rivals.
– Big game for Darnold!
– The Eagles are on fire!
– Pirate duel.
– Victory for Canada.
