{"id":520858,"date":"2026-03-24T21:34:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T21:34:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/520858\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T21:34:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T21:34:22","slug":"anton-frondell-to-make-his-nhl-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/520858\/","title":{"rendered":"Anton Frondell to make his NHL debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Blackhawks just dropped the average age of their roster \u2014 again.<\/p>\n

The Hawks officially called up their 2025 No. 3 draft pick, Anton Frondell<\/a>, on Tuesday prior to their game at the New York Islanders, the latest prospect to join the team. He, and 2024 first-round draft pick Sacha Boisvert<\/a>, 20, took the ice for the first time at morning skate in UBS Arena.<\/p>\n

When approached by media members on Tuesday, Frondell asked Hawks rookie Nick Landis, \u201cHow do I do this?\u201d before answering questions. It\u2019s a big step, so nothing wrong with having nerves.<\/p>\n

\u201cArriving at the hotel (and) meeting all the guys on the team was cool,\u201d said the 18-year-old from Sweden. \u201cNow first time on the ice, I don\u2019t know how they felt, but it felt hard to breathe out there, but now I\u2019m ready for the game hopefully.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frondell joins the team at the very top of his game. He won the gold medal<\/a> at the 2025 IIHF World Juniors, where he scored eight points in seven contests for Sweden, was named the best forward of the tournament and earned World Junior all-star team honors.<\/p>\n

He joined Djurg\u00e5rdens IF of the Swedish Hockey League for the 2025-26 season, where he scored 28 points (eight assists, 20 goals) in 43 games. He\u2019s the fourth SHL rookie to score 20 goals in a season, joining Thomas Sandstrom, Markus Naslund and Daniel Sedin.<\/p>\n

\u2018I finally have a new favorite NHL team\u2019: Chicago Blackhawks select Anton Frondell at No. 3 in the 2025 NHL draft<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

That number could\u2019ve been higher had he been elevated above a regular third-line center with the team. He\u2019ll get that promotion immediately upon arrival with the Hawks, as he skated on the right wing on the top line with Connor Bedard and Ryan Greene during morning skate.<\/p>\n

Hawks coach Jeff Blashill called himself a \u201cthrow him into the fire\u201d type of coach regarding Frondell.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s earned the opportunity to get up there and capitalize on the confidence he has coming into the league,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cIt\u2019s a good chance for him, (there\u2019s) three good players on that line, so hopefully they can create some stuff for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Standing at 6-foot-1 and 198 pounds, he\u2019s already NHL size. Going up against men in the SHL added to his seasoning in professional hockey.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone was stronger I felt like, and it was experienced players who know how to battle in the corner (and) know how to use their bodies,\u201d Frondell said. \u201cI got run over a couple times and tried to learn from it. It\u2019s a hard game, hockey. You need to battle and I like to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Blashill: \u201cIf I didn\u2019t think he could handle the spots I\u2019m putting him in, I wouldn\u2019t do it right away because you don\u2019t want to set somebody up for struggles. Does that mean it\u2019s going to be easy sailing? No, this league is a hard league, there\u2019s going to be ups and downs throughout the course of his career, much less these next few weeks. How do you work with him? You help coach him, you teach him, you stay patient, and you make sure he knows what he\u2019s great at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djurg\u00e5rdens IF\u2019s season ended on Saturday with a 3-1 loss to the Malm\u00f6 Redhawks. Shortly after the game, Frondell received the call that he would join the Hawks.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything has been going really fast,\u201d Frondell said. \u201cI was shocked, Sunday (I) was packing my bags and now I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MatthewMatthew Schaefer, drafted first by the New York Islanders, middle, stands between Michael Misa, drafted second by the San Jose Sharks, left, and Anton Frondell, drafted third by the Chicago Blackhawks, during the NHL hockey draft Friday, June 27, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Damian Dovarganes)<\/p>\n

Blashill has emphasized taking one step at a time for a Hawks team that\u2019s only getting younger as general manager Kyle Davidson stacks up draft picks and prospects. With another top-three draft pick joining the roster, the coach\u2019s advice was simple.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust be him, play,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cHe\u2019s done a good job over the course of his time growing up to put himself in position to have success, so just go play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing I told him was you\u2019re going to make mistakes, and I don\u2019t care about mistakes. We care about learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frondell will debut against Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer, the No.1 pick in the 2025 draft. He\u2019s not playing like a rookie \u2014 his 51 points (22 goals, 29 assists) has broken a plethora of first-year blueliner records.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been an outstanding player for his team,\u201d Blashill said of Schaefer. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to be a really good player as a young player, but it\u2019s another thing to be a really good player and help your team be in the playoff battle, which I think he\u2019s done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Frondell: \u201c(He\u2019s) a good guy and he\u2019s been really good this year. (It\u2019ll be) fun to meet him again, last time I saw him was at the draft.\u201d<\/p>\n

The newest Hawk looks to join young players like Bedard, Schaefer, Macklin Celebrini and others into NHL stardom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have fun playing hockey, they do some pretty crazy things from a talent perspective,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting for the league, exciting for the sport that they have that many young, talented players come in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Blackhawks just dropped the average age of their roster \u2014 again. The Hawks officially called up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5115],"tags":[584,683,521,37,96,5263,5,159,4,15466,292],"class_list":["post-520858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-blackhawks","tag-2025-nhl-draft","tag-anton-frondell","tag-blackhawks","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-chicagoblackhawks","tag-hockey","tag-new-york-islanders","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-debut","tag-nhl-hockey"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116286303584724491","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}