On the Rise: Anton Frondell

Ready or not

Credit: NHL.com

So…bad news: A Blackhawks group that ranked 30th in goals per game last season must keep its head above water without the services of Connor Bedard (shoulder injury) until November. Otherwise, Chicago’s 2026-27 campaign could be doomed before the budding superstar plays a single game.

Who will rise to the occasion?

• Major summer acquisition Bowen Byram was already expected to provide a jolt from the back end. Pressure’s on.

• Frank Nazar will hopefully strike a greater measure of consistency.

• Veteran winger Teuvo Teravainen must bounce back.

• Maybe one or more of Artyom Levshunov, Oliver Moore, Ryan Greene, Nick Lardis, Sam Rinzel and Sacha Boisvert can take the next step.

• KHL product Roman Kantserov is a wild card.

Then there’s Anton Frondell. The 19-year-old joined the Blackhawks in late March and looked like the pro-readiest prospect in hockey. If it’s all hands on deck, his might give them a puncher’s chance at surviving.

Here’s why.

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Offense

Yes, Frondell’s pedigree is cause for excitement. What had Blackhawks fans buzzing, however, was the manner in which his archetype complements Bedard’s.

Whether he lines up on 98’s wing or centers his own unit, he offers both above-average raw talent and a wrecking-ball counterpoint to the Canadian’s otherworldly finesse. The teenager had yet to fill out his frame (6’1”, 198 lbs) last spring. He had zero time to acclimate to his surroundings. His smash-mouth offense still manufactured plenty of danger:

Before his draft year, NHL Central Scouting described him as “a military tank.” Now imagine a 6’2”, 205-pound version of the player with a few offseasons under his belt. Frightening.

You can tell he has experience duking it out vs. professional D-men in Sweden. The way he holds the puck at the tip of his range to fend off defenders draped over his back. Dipping his inside shoulder to wrestle leverage away from opponents in puck battles and wide drives. His ability to find escape routes/outlet passes on his forehand or backhand while seemingly pinned to the boards. He’s a cagier skater than you might think as well, often going 10-and-2 in order to wriggle out of his counterpart’s grasp.

Stacking trickery on top of his strength makes him a slippery 1-on-1 mark:

This a forward who isn’t simply capable of playing through contact. He relishes it as the prelude to separation. He’ll invite the collision and then bounce/swivel/duck off in the other direction, enabling his team to extend offensive possessions and shuffle the deck when it can’t glimpse a trail to pay dirt. This physical maturity distinguishes him from his highly touted—and perhaps more naturally skilled—peers. He has “playoff-style” written all over him.

Frondell harnesses his heft for more than puck protection too. He has the tools to become a dogged forechecker at the pro level. Rock-solid balance levies his full weight on opponents while allowing him to spring out of engagements first. Watch him single-handedly derail a Canes DZ retrieval:

Break Mike Reilly’s (CAR 6) posture —> extend on a dime to ruin Charles-Alexis Legault’s (CAR 62) night —> attack the crease.

Something out of nothing.

After boosting his long speed over the past couple of seasons, he could blossom into a forechecking demon with slightly better get-off. The player himself identified acceleration as a weakness during his draft year. Refining his first 1-2 strides would have him rattling D-men on the regular.

You don’t spend top-five picks on trench warfare alone, of course. The 2025 third overall selection possesses impressive on-puck traits, although his special sauce appears off the puck. He shows his teammates premium targets. On zone exits and the rush, he has the good habit of opening his stance to stay available to passers. His timing on overlaps secures ample room as the trailer, while his central pathing ensures that his line can get off the wall via mid-length lateral feeds. Around the goalmouth, he calculates the optimal second-wave cushion to nab loose pucks.

For a forward who brings so much beef to the table, there’s a fair bit of consideration that goes into his spacing. Rather than slinking away from congestion and praying for a cross-ice connection, he stays square to and meets passers halfway. He makes their lives easier.

Consequently, he’s always primed to pounce:

While Frondell boasts a powerful shot, you get the sense he’ll win on position over pure skill. His gift for arriving on schedule should upgrade any trio Chicago puts together.

Here’s an example of his off-puck decision-making:

Neal Pionk (WPG 4) is about to recover a loose puck. Unfortunately for the Jets, speedster Ilya Mikheyev (CHI 95) summons so much pace that Dylan Samberg (WPG 54) can’t buy his partner a buffer. The RD must make a choice, and without knowing what lurks over his left shoulder, he attempts a near-side clearance. Mikheyev’s pressure affects Pionk’s release, and Frondell’s supporting route guides the puck onto his tape inside the blue line.

Should Chicago act quickly, it’ll have a partial 2-on-1.

Frondell dishes to Tyler Bertuzzi (CHI 59) as soon as possible:

Why? Because he doesn’t want Samberg to find his bearings. Hanging on as he glides into middle ice would establish Frondell as the primary threat on account of his location and Bertuzzi’s handedness (on-wing catch = inferior shooting conditions). It would also allow the LD to size up this rush and hedge accordingly.

Dispatching the puck across the royal road ASAP forces Samberg to turn and challenge the winger, thereby freeing up Main Street. Notice Frondell’s posture immediately following the pass. He isn’t playing setup man for a single second. He slings the puck to Bertuzzi specifically to heighten his menace on the return feed. The “meeting the pass halfway” bit surfaces here. Instead of installing himself on a one-timing perch, he keeps progressing toward the heart of the OZ to facilitate the relay and deny the backchecker (Alex Iafallo, WPG 9) a last-ditch chance at gumming up the works:

Early pass —> improve position off puck —> Grade A look:

Speaking of one-timers, they featured prominently in Frondell’s arsenal last season. On the PP, in particular, the Blackhawks aimed to leverage this weapon over and over again. The results amounted to a…mixed bag.

Here’s every attempt he took in my viewings:

Lacking a proper QB on the blue line, Chicago slotted Bedard as its high man in the 1-3-1. Sure, this positioned its best player as the conductor. It hindered service to the flankers by the same token. Unless you’re icing an Ovechkin or Pastrnak, you should be trying to tee up your trigger men through seams rather than around the horn.

Frondell was eager to contribute regardless and thus struggled with shot selection at times. He unloaded from wide areas (extra time for goaltenders to push across) or off short passes (i.e. little movement demanded of netminders). He posed the biggest threat when Chicago handed Bedard the puck low-high off scrambles or its 1C wheeled around the net to change the point of attack. Such designs can be difficult to replicate.

This is where Byram’s addition should prove valuable. Plugging him at the top of the formation will likely slide Bedard down to the left flank, where his vision and touch should supply Frondell with five-star dishes—not to mention Bedard’s own shooting potential. All of a sudden, the team’s 29th-ranked PP could put PKers in uncomfortable spots with greater frequency.

In Bedard’s absence, Moore might deserve a crack at the left flank. He showed an aptitude for seam passing on PP2 last season.

If Chicago does manage to elevate Frondell’s one-timer, defenses will begin to hone in on it. It would behoove the man advantage to develop some wrinkles. He isn’t necessarily a high-end playmaker, but he can do his part by passing off his shooting platform every now and then:

With a disruptive net-front man like Bertuzzi occupying one defender and another hoping to impact Frondell’s shot, sneaking the bumper inside for a redirection is a clever curve ball to overload the strong side.

Stationing him in the bumper and operating through a Bedard-Bertuzzi-Frondell triangle is another intriguing possibility. Think Eichel-Stone-Hertl in Vegas.

Zoom out from the PP, and there’s neither an area of specialization nor much pre-release fussiness in his shooting profile. His volleys are more thudding than laser-guided. On the flip side, you can’t pigeonhole him. He’ll opt for whatever tool, distance and target suit his desire to muscle the puck into the net:

The total package (spacing, variety, etc.) could soon translate to 25+ goals. Since he isn’t a born distributor, reaching that plateau will be key to fulfilling his offensive potential. He does exhibit decent vision and accuracy. Those attributes were offset by sloppy puck management on exits, entries and the cycle. He was occasionally guilty of surrendering possession for free:

If he’s to assume the role of two-way pivot, he’ll need to exercise better judgment in precarious areas.

Come to think of it, this ties into Chicago’s broader choice: Is he a center or winger? His positioning and supportive qualities would shine down the middle, while his on-puck decision-making could hurt the Blackhawks. He could unleash a bruising F1 toolkit and yield some play-driving responsibility on the wing, yet you’d like to dress your most valuable pieces in the most valuable positions. It’s much easier to raise a line’s floor from the guts of the ice.

Patrolling the flank for a couple of seasons before pondering a move to center (e.g. Quinton Byfield) may represent the safest/smartest approach.

At any rate, a player who can hold their own in either spot is a nice problem to have. We witnessed that in 2025-26 when Frondell stepped in and performed admirably amidst growing pains (9 points in 12 games):

There’s reason to believe in his scoring growth. From the day he joined the big club to the end of the season, he paced the Blackhawks in shot attempts and scoring chances. He didn’t register as many high-danger opportunities as you’d like, but that might be a function of his flanker role on the PP and subpar playmaking linemates (Mikheyev and Bertuzzi for the most part) at EV.

Deploying him alongside some combination of Nazar, Teravainen and Kantserov as Bedard recovers from shoulder surgery should amplify his presence around the crease. Byram’s freewheeling will also soak up attention and grant the forward time to get open down low.

Frondell’s trigger-happiness is tiresome to defend as it is. Lugging his modern power forward constitution to the dirty areas would manufacture more sustainable in-zone offense and hike his overall upside.

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Defense

In his 12 appearances, Frondell posted the team’s second-highest expected goals-against rate (4.54). The Blackhawks were steamrolled during his shifts. Does this render the Barkov and Toews comparisons worthless?

That could ultimately be the case, but an end-of-season cup of coffee on a lousy squad is…not most the accurate lens through which to assess a player’s defense. Never mind the fact that he switched leagues, positions and linemates a few times in the process. Tough for anyone—much less a rookie—to find their two-way groove under those circumstances.

For now, the truth lies somewhere in between. His five-man unit did indeed flounder. Individually, he also flashed the ingredients for a sturdy long-term foundation. As he gains playing time and his position crystallizes, he should round into a reliable defender:

The current iteration of Frondell resembles Captain Serious’ longtime running mate more than Captain Serious himself.

Marian Hossa’s two-way prowess was integral to Toews’ defensive impact, and you can see some of the Hall of Famer’s attributes in the youngster’s style. The powerful stride. The nose for disruption. The diligent backchecking routes. His positional support and taste for slicing the NZ in half bolster the back line’s odds of a stop:

Sometimes, his hustle can save Chicago’s bacon on its own:

Shayne Gostisbehere (CAR 4) rims the puck to the high boards, where William Carrier (CAR 28) and Ethan Del Mastro (CHI 38, off screen) lock horns. Meanwhile, Jackson Blake (CAR 53) skates over to assist the wall man and Logan Stankoven (CAR 22) steams up the central corridor.

A Blackhawks forward must track back to assist the pinching D-man, but there’s confusion within the ranks. F1 Frondell is the deepest forward in the OZ. F2 Mikheyev is hypnotized at a shallow depth and fails to recognize Carolina’s up-ice momentum. He stops moving his feet altogether. F3 Bertuzzi’s containment is hanging on by a thread. This could turn into a breakaway in the blink of an eye:

Frondell peers back to determine his next priority only to discover a sketchy state of affairs. The weak-side defenseman (Kevin Korchinski, CHI 14) has shifted across to contest Blake’s touch, which clears the runway for a forehand swivel pass to a streaking Stankoven.

No one else is left.

His desperation kicks in and he enters sprint mode to chase down the Canes’ playoff standout:

Thanks to his processor and deceptive long speed, Chicago’s F1 is able to clean up his club’s NZ mess, barging into the passing lane at the 11th hour. Look at the daylight Stankoven has in front of him:

As a bonus, Frondell drops the puck to Del Mastro in order to initiate a reload:

Beyond his tracking in transition, he carries a heavy stick that kills many plays in the DZ. Similarly to Joel Eriksson Ek and Ryan O’Reilly, it seems as though his blade is 50% thicker than normal. The puck explodes off your twig when he makes contact.

Pair that with his tenacity, and you’ve got a defender who should fare well down low and at the point of attack:

This contrasts with his off-puck reads. He struggled a bit in coverage, not always scanning enough to catch threats creeping into the slot. Because of that, the center vs. winger question is a persistent one. His proficiency in board battles lends itself to the flanks. The lighter cognitive burden out wide doesn’t hurt either. However, there’s serious F3 upside and his pesky stick could give teams fits in the jaws of Chicago’s defense.

Again, bear in mind that Frondell hopped straight from Sweden to the Blackhawks’ lineup. Some of these mistakes (the switch from man to zone in a hybrid defense, doubling up on assignments, etc.) may be a thing of the past come September.

Puck-watching is the main concern:

Any plan to roll Frondell out at center vs. top competition will require him to shore up his coverage. You can’t fall asleep against top-six forwards. Fortunately, there were bright spots in this setting too. I particularly liked these two clips vs. the Blues:

• St. Louis moves the puck to Robert Thomas (STL 18) on the half-wall and Dylan Holloway (STL 81) kicks into the high slot for a one-timer. Frondell mirrors the winger’s path while peeking weak side just in case an even more dangerous look must be smothered. Nope. He opens his stance for a superior stick-checking angle, which convinces Thomas to fight his urge to pass off the wall and cut inside instead. He’s now banking on the rookie to make a play on the puck as Holloway scissors over, yet Frondell sneaks under Louis Crevier (CHI 46) to avoid obstructing the RD and deny the lane to the winger.

• As Jimmy Snuggerud (STL 21) wheels behind the cage, strong-side forward Mikheyev claims Thomas in the slot before passing him off to a teammate and resuming his zonal responsibilities. There’s just one problem: He doesn’t wait for a teammate to complete the hand-off. St. Louis’ captain is left alone for what feels like an eternity. Frondell, who laid a hit on the other side of the DZ, doesn’t waste a second racing over to shoot his stick into the picture.

Encouraging stuff from a teenager.

With some tuning to the NHL’s rhythm (i.e. proactive scanning below the dots), there’s a 2C here. He admitted last spring that the pace was a lot to take in: “Everything goes so fast. Everyone is a lot better. I still have a lot to learn.”

Even then, the Toews parallels are questionable. I see a bull-in-a-china-shop center rather than a by-the-book gud pro. Failing that, he could offer Bedard or Nazar steadfast backchecking and point-of-attack robustness on the wing. The former, who has glaring defensive warts, would definitely benefit from Frondell’s grown-man elbow grease.

However that cookie crumbles, Chicago should have a net positive on defense within ~2 years.

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Frondell’s positional home remains up in the air.

What we do know is tantalizing nonetheless.

Heavy-shooting, hard-working, well-rounded forwards are rare. He sports the skill set to form his line’s 200-foot bedrock—and that would fortify the Blackhawks’ core for the next decade. His precocious game may help them weather their early-season adversity in 2026-27 too.