Several comparables to wingers above are off. Nazar is going to be a center. His ability to create offense from the middle of the ice is exceptional. I’ll project something like Anthony Cirelli with a little more magic.
I'm not sure about that. Yeah from an offensive and puck carrying/distributing standpoint, sure. There is unfortunately more to center than that. You need someone that is heavily involved in the corners, helping out defensemen, someone who can play hard against the other teams 1-2 center.
From what I have seen, Nazar wants the puck on his stick, which is great. But he relys on getting himself open (which he is good at) and makes himself a good candidate to receive the puck. Opposed to having tendencies to go after the puck and get it. If your gonna be a top line center in the NHL, you got to go after the puck and get dirty and battle. Obviously there have been centers to counter my arguement, but these tendanicies to me certainly decrease his odds of playing C in the NHL. Just means there are more things he needs to be great at in order to be effective at that position at that level.
Same concept as Patrick Kane, he would make an amazing center from a offensive standpoint. He has all those abilities you could dream of in a center, but there is a reason why a player of Kanes magnitude has played wing his entire career in the NHL.
There is also a reason Cooley plays center over Nazar. Nazar in my opinion has the better offensive abilities, but Cooley is better suited to take C and Nazar on the wing.
I'm not bashing the kid, I like him. But I'm trying to understand where he really fits in the NHL. These are my concerns so far.