FEATURE: Frondell Feeling Right at Home with the Blackhawks

For Anton Frondell, getting drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks was such a surreal experience that he still hasn’t fully processed it.

“I still don’t remember what happened that [draft] night,” Frondell, 18, said. “Best evening of my life. I’m so glad to be picked by Chicago.”

Frondell has been busy since getting drafted No. 3 overall by Chicago, partaking in the Blackhawks’ Development Camp this past week at Fifth Third Arena in Chicago.

“I don't know if I understand how big this is yet,” Frondell said. “It’s been a hectic few days, from the draft till now. I don’t really understand what’s happening.”

Frondell, who totaled 25 points (11G, 14A) in 29 regular-season games with Djurgården IF in HockeyAllsvenskan during the 2024-25 season and earned HockeyAllsvenskan Rookie of the Year honors, is happy to be with the Blackhawks, the NHL team he said he is the most familiar with.

“I didn’t know for sure [that getting drafted by the Blackhawks] was coming,” Frondell said. “Since the combine, I haven’t talked so much with teams, so I didn’t really know…For sure I hoped Chicago. It was the team with the best feeling in the room at the combine, so the best team that could've picked me, picked me.”

Marcus Krüger, who was a part of the Blackhawks’ 2013 and 2015 Stanley Cup-winning teams, played with Frondell during the 2024-25 season with Djurgården IF. Krüger and Frondell helped lead the team to a HockeyAllsvenskan Championship and an SHL promotion. Frondell collected seven points (3G, 4A) in 16 qualification games.

“Sweden is a good hockey country. Many good players [from Sweden are] in the NHL,” Frondell said. “Played great in the world championship this year.”

Blackhawks Director of Amateur Scouting Mike Doneghey said the team received a lot of information about Frondell from Krüger, who notched 123 points (38G, 85A) in 520 games with the Blackhawks from 2010-19.

“This kid [Frondell] called Johnny Oduya out of the blue just to go meet with him about his breathing exercises that he does,” Doneghey said. “So he’s a really inquisitive kid when it comes to hockey. I know you haven’t seen him live in person, but he’s a pretty good specimen when you see him. ”

At the NHL Combine, the 6-foot-1, 204-pound forward ranked first in VO2 max, a measure of aerobic fitness and capacity, third in peak power output and ninth in mean power output. Beyond testing well at the combine, Frondell is known as an intelligent player who uses his body to his advantage.

“I think he’s a really smart hockey player,” Blackhawks General Manager Kyle Davidson said. “I think he uses his body very effectively, especially in battles along the wall. He just has a really projectable game to the NHL, and I think he plays the game the way that it's played, not only in North America on the small rink. I think he plays very heavy, hard, almost ‘playoff hockey.’ So, I think that’s something we were really excited to add. He plays a skill game, he can play a heavy game, he can play it any way you want, and so we’re really excited about that.”

Although he is only 18 years old, Frondell has been on the Blackhawks radar for a few years.

“Anton Frondell came on the scene to us probably two years ago in Plymouth at one of the Five Nations tournaments,” Doneghey said. “Very raw at the time. Skating was kind of sloppy. He wore his tongues out of his skates. He just looked sloppy in general. But you noticed the hands and the brain and stuff like that, and over time he just kept getting better and better and better.”

Frondell undoubtedly improved his game since Chicago became familiar with him, which is a significant reason why the Blackhawks chose to select him with their top pick in the Draft.

“He’s the only kid in the four years that I’ve been in this position that I kind of just lost track of time and we went over [the time limit],” Doneghey said. “He’s a super kid, he's a hard worker. He’ll fit totally in with the character of the guys we have on and off the ice.”

“On the ice, he plays a pro game. He’s played pro hockey, obviously in the Allsvenskan, and then they got elevated this year to the SHL,” Doneghey added. “But he plays wing on that team, he plays center with the national team. He’ll probably play center with the World Junior team. So, he's responsible.”

Frondell hasn’t been with the Blackhawks organization for long, but he already notices the difference in playing for an NHL team compared to playing in Sweden.

“One thing that's a lot different from Sweden, it’s how many staff, how many guys are working with the Blackhawks,” Frondell said. “A lot of people. Like this morning, we were up training in gyms, [there were] ten people just walking around watching you, seeing if you're doing the right thing. So you can really get feedback. There's always someone here to look at you, and that’s good.”

Frondell has stated he wants to make the team right away. It’s possible that he could impress enough this offseason for that to happen, but he will most likely head back to Sweden next season to further his development.

“The plan is that he's playing with Djurgården in the SHL next year, but we’ve got a lot of time to figure out if that’s the best path,” Davidson said. “I think it’s a great path if that’s the one that occurs, so we will just figure that out going forward.”