NEW YORK (AP) — Anton Frondell was playing in the Swedish hockey league playoffs on Saturday and got the call shortly after his team was eliminated that the Chicago Blackhawks want their top prospect to come to North America.
Not eventually. Now.
“I was shocked,” the 18-year-old Frondell said. “Everything has been going really fast.”
That includes being thrust into the action, making his NHL debut on Tuesday at the New York Islanders on Chicago's top
line alongside Connor Bedard and as part of the first power play unit. Nine months after he was taken with the third pick in the draft, Frondell is getting a big role right away.
“It’s great," said Bedard, the face of the franchise. "Just throw him in there and give him the minutes, power play and just have him in the same role he was playing in all year.”
Coach Jeff Blashill wants Frondell, who turns 19 in May, to “capitalize on the confidence he has coming into the league.” That's the thought process behind seeing how Frondell handles hockey in the deep end.
“If I didn’t think he could handle the spots that I’m putting him in, I wouldn’t do it right away because you don’t want to set somebody up for struggles,” Blashill said. “I think he can handle it, and I think he’s prepared at this moment to walk in and be successful in those spots.”
Frondell's first game in the league comes against someone he got to know throughout the pre-draft process: now-Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer, who was taken with the first pick and has since shown why.
Schaefer has been a revelation. He is the runaway front-runner to win the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year and the biggest reason New York is in the playoff race.
“It’s really fun to watch what he does,” Bedard said of Schaefer. “For someone to step in like that and do what he’s doing, it’s incredible. ... He’s among elite company of players in the league.”
Bedard and San Jose's Macklin Celebrini, taken with the top pick in 2023 and '24, are already in that company. Michael Misa, who the Sharks drafted between Schaefer and Frondell, is already more than 30 games into his rookie year serving as a complement to Celebrini and co-star Will Smith.
Frondell did not get the full training camp leadup to his debut, though he has a unique advantage from playing in the top league in Sweden, similar to what Auston Matthews did at age 17 in Switzerland a decade ago before Toronto picked him No. 1 in 2016.
“Playing pro hockey, playing men, it’s good — competing, battling,” Frondell said. “Everyone was stronger, I felt like, and it was experienced players who know how to battle in the corners. They know how to use their body. So, sometimes I felt like I got run over a couple times and tried to learn from it. It’s a hard game, hockey. You need to battle, and I like to do that.”
Sacha Boisvert, the 18th pick in 2024, is close to following Frondell's tracks into the league. Blashill said Boisvert “will for sure play on this trip.”
The Blackhawks visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night, the Rangers on Friday night and the New Jersey Devils on Sunday night. Because they're out of contention, they can afford to slide Boisvert and Frondell into the lineup, along with other young players seen as part of the organization's future.
“I think part of this is figuring out what we have as we go through it, and then you kind of tweak your, not style, per se, but how you set up your lineup as you go,” Blashill said. "Right now let’s see what each guy kind of brings to the table.”
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