NEW YORK — Anton Frondell was enjoying within the Swedish hockey league playoffs on Saturday and obtained the decision shortly after his crew was eradicated that the Chicago Blackhawks need their top prospect to come back to North America.
Not ultimately. Now.
“I was shocked,” the 18-year-old Frondell mentioned. “Everything has been going really fast.”
That consists of being thrust into the motion, making his NHL debut on Tuesday at the New York Islanders on Chicago’s prime line alongside Connor Bedard and as a part of the primary energy play unit. Nine months after he was taken with the third choose within the draft, Frondell is getting an enormous position instantly.
“It’s great,” mentioned 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 needs Frondell, who turns 19 in May, to “capitalize on the confidence he has coming into the league.” That’s the thought course of behind seeing how Frondell handles hockey within the deep finish.
“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 mentioned. “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 recreation within the league comes towards somebody he obtained to know all through the pre-draft course of: now-Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer, who was taken with the primary choose and has since proven why.
Schaefer has been a revelation. He is the runaway front-runner to win the Calder Trophy as rookie of the yr and the most important motive New York is within the playoff race.
“It’s really fun to watch what he does,” Bedard mentioned 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 highest choose in 2023 and ’24, are already in that firm. Michael Misa, who the Sharks drafted between Schaefer and Frondell, is already greater than 30 video games into his rookie yr serving as a complement to Celebrini and co-star Will Smith.
Frondell didn’t get the complete coaching camp leadup to his debut, although he has a singular benefit from enjoying within the prime league in Sweden, just like what Auston Matthews did at age 17 in Switzerland a decade in the past earlier than Toronto picked him No. 1 in 2016.
“Playing pro hockey, playing men, it’s good — competing, battling,” Frondell mentioned. “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.”
The Blackhawks go to the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday evening, the Rangers on Friday evening and the New Jersey Devils on Sunday evening. Because they’re out of competition, they will afford to slip Boisvert and Frondell into the lineup, together with different younger gamers seen as a part of the group’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 mentioned. “Right now let’s see what each guy kind of brings to the table.”
