CHICAGO \u2014 Anton Frondell took the opening faceoff for the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. When he got off the ice, Connor Bedard jumped to replace him at center. When Bedard finished his shift, Frank Nazar came on.<\/p>\n
Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill is in an experimentation phase with Frondell at center \u2014 Tuesday marked his second game there after playing wing in his first three NHL games \u2014 but Blashill\u2019s dream has the Blackhawks able to go three quality centers deep.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think ultimately the best teams in the league have kind of three really hard matchup lines,\u201d Blashill said before Tuesday\u2019s 4-3 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets. \u201cBy that, I mean lines that are hard to match. You go into a game, the really good teams all have three, the good teams have two. \u2026 Ultimately, we\u2019re going to need three really good lines here if we want to become a really good team, have a fourth line that has good roles, whether it be penalty killers, physicality, toughness, whatever that might be.\u201d<\/p>\n
The way Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson has gone about building the team helps with what Blashill would like to do. Davidson drafted Nazar at No. 13 in 2022 and Bedard first in 2023 with the hopes they\u2019d be two of the team\u2019s top centers and would arrive in the NHL quickly. In Year 3, Bedard has emerged as a star No. 1 center. In Year 2, Nazar is still finding consistency, but his highs have been really high: Over the last 15 games, he leads the Blackhawks in points.<\/p>\n
When the Blackhawks took Frondell with the third pick in 2025, they knew they\u2019d like his two-way game and size, but they weren\u2019t sure where in the lineup he\u2019d fall. He played mostly wing this season in the Swedish Hockey League. But as Blashill watched a ton of Frondell this season, he wondered if Frondell could be the type of center the Blackhawks don\u2019t necessarily have. He has more size than Bedard and Nazar. He plays a more responsible defensive game but still has offensive abilities.<\/p>\n
With Jonathan Toews in town with the Jets, it was easy for Blashill to find an example of the type of center he\u2019d love to have in his lineup.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think long term when you have that ability to kind of defend the ice 200 feet and produce offense,\u201d Blashill said, \u201cWinnipeg\u2019s got one of the best ever to play in Chicago do that. I just think those guys are so, so valuable. He (Frondell) played all wing all year. For him to go into center, that\u2019s a hard thing, but I just thought I want to do it now instead until wait to next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frondell looked much more comfortable at center in his second game. He, Ilya Mikheyev and Tyler Bertuzzi were by far the Blackhawks\u2019 best line of the night. They created all three of the Blackhawks\u2019 goals, which included Frondell\u2019s first in the NHL when Mikheyev swept him the puck in the slot for one-timer. It was Frondell\u2019s fifth point in his fifth NHL game.<\/p>\n
Frondell wasn\u2019t perfect. He abandoned his coverage of Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey as Morrissey drove to the net in the second period, thinking he\u2019d have assistance at the net, and Morrissey scored all alone. Frondell was also on the ice when the Jets scored 33 seconds into overtime. Overall, though, he held more than his own while largely going\u00a0 up against Jets center Mark Scheifele. In the 11:27 he was on the ice against Scheifele, the Blackhawks had a 76.58 expected goals percentage, according to Natural Stat Trick, and outscored the Jets 3-1.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s done an excellent job to be out against what I think is one of the best lines in the League with Scheifele, (Kyle) Connor,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cThere were some mistakes, but, overall, I thought he did an excellent job. The line did an excellent job, so don\u2019t take away from Mickey and Bert. It\u2019s kind of a line that gets it in terms of the way they want to play together. It\u2019s certainly throwing him to the wolves, and I\u2019ll tell you he did a real good job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frondell\u2019s self-assessment at center was simpler. He was asked whether he felt more comfortable there in a second game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess so, a little bit,\u201d he said. \u201cI enjoy playing in the middle of the ice. It\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moving Frondell to center alters what many assumed the Blackhawks\u2019 lineup will look like in the future. The thought was Frondell would become Bedard\u2019s running mate on a wing and Nazar would center the second line. With Frondell at center, there\u2019s less certainty of who Bedard\u2019s future wings will be, while Nazar likely will become a third-line center.<\/p>\n
Blashill promoted Nick Lardis to Bedard\u2019s wing the last two games after Lardis had success on the second line with Nazar.\u00a0Ryan Greene, who has spent a majority of the season with Bedard, was the other wing. Lardis and Greene had quality looks Tuesday, but neither could capitalize.<\/p>\n
Nazar has played the last two games with Ryan Donato and Andr\u00e9 Burakovsky. He scored twice in Sunday\u2019s loss and had his share of chances again Tuesday, finishing the game with nine shot attempts, including four on net. In the last 15 games, Nazar has had seven goals and seven assists. Blashill didn\u2019t think it mattered exactly where Nazar was playing in the lineup.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think that changes Frank\u2019s role at all,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cI think it just adds another potential good center. I\u2019d love to have a chance to have three really good centers. That makes you a really good hockey team in a hurry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Except for Mikheyev, all those players mentioned are expected back next season, and there is still the possibility he is re-signed. Oliver Moore, who was trending up before his recent injury, could also be slotted at wing or become the fourth-line center. But mostly, Blashill could be getting a look at some of next season\u2019s potential lines. There\u2019s also a high likelihood the Blackhawks add at least one top-six winger this offseason, with Roman Kantserov most likely to be added to the mix. He led the Kontinental Hockey League in goals as a 21-year-old and would be expected to jump into a top-six role.<\/p>\n
The Blackhawks could also take a winger with their first pick in the 2026 draft. With their recent losses, the Blackhawks have gotten closer to having the second-best odds at the No. 1 pick. They\u2019re in 31st place with a .453 points percentage, and would draft fourth overall at worst should they remain there. A top-two pick would guarantee Gavin McKenna or Ivar Stenberg, but it\u2019s possible one of the wingers could still be on the board if the Blackhawks were at No. 3, though less likely at No. 4. Either McKenna or Stenberg would upgrade the Blackhawks\u2019 winger possibilities.<\/p>\n
The other possibility is Davidson trading for a wing in the offseason. He mentioned at the trade deadline he\u2019d explore using his draft capital to bring in a player next season. It\u2019ll all come down to the price and not leveraging what the Blackhawks have already built, but it is in the cards.<\/p>\n
Blashill and Davidson discuss big-picture decisions such as moving Frondell to center and what that could mean for Bedard, the wingers and the lineup. Overall, they decided it\u2019s worth giving Frondell a look there because it has the greatest potential for the Blackhawks as a team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, we certainly think about what the lineup looks like with other guys in different spots,\u201d Blashill said. \u201cCertainly, getting Connor guys who play off him well is important, and I think both Greene and Lardis have the capability to do that. I just think for us, long term, I think having the center ice position solidified is a huge, huge thing. If you have Connor and Anton and Frankie, I think you\u2019ve got a really good 1-2-3 punch right there, and you build it from there. So, we\u2019re looking at what\u2019s best for our team long term.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve said this lots: We\u2019re not going to take a shortcut to win a game on a Tuesday night that\u2019s going to hurt us long term. Certainly part of that long term is getting the best out of each of our players, so to put them in positions to be as successful as possible is important.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2014 Anton Frondell took the opening faceoff for the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. When he got off…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5121],"tags":[96,5,78,4,77,18,5288],"class_list":{"0":"post-534493","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-winnipeg-jets","8":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-jets","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-winnipeg","13":"tag-winnipeg-jets","14":"tag-winnipegjets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116328939109822344","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534493","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=534493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}