Why Blackhawks first-round pick Anton Frondell plans to stay in Sweden this season

New York Times

5 days ago

Where Anton Frondell was going to play this coming season was decided long before he was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks. It was decided even before it was known which division Djurgården would be playing this season.
Djurgården general manager Niklas Wikegård had it arranged long before that.
'Actually, we already talked about it in October, November (of 2024) that it doesn't matter if we're going to play SHL or HockeyAllsvenskan, in the second league in Sweden,' Wikegård said by phone on Friday. 'So it would be good for him to play at least one more year in Sweden and just mature physically as a player. So we had a mutual agreement with the agents and him and his father that he's gonna stay for one more year in Sweden and play.
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'He had a difficult year where he came into the season a little bit wrong, a little bit injured and kind of like all the young players had ups and downs in his play. To play in Sweden, when you play under pressure all the time to win in Sweden — Europe is different than North America where you have to qualify for the next league and you don't want to fall out — so to play those games, (that's) extreme pressure for a guy who's 17 years old. … So, there was no thoughts from our side where he's going to play next year. We were 100 percent sure that he's gonna play with us for the season coming.'
A lot has happened since late 2024. Djurgården earned its promotion to the SHL by winning HockeyAllsvenskan. Frondell, 18, played a part in that and emerged as one of the top players in the draft class. The Blackhawks selected him with the No. 3 pick.
Still, the plan remained.
The Blackhawks learned more about Frondell's plan after drafting him. Originally, they hadn't ruled out his coming to training camp and seeing how he stacked up against NHL competition in preseason games. But as the Blackhawks negotiated Frondell's entry-level contract and discussed what he sought for the upcoming season, he expressed his desire to return to Djurgården for another year.
The Blackhawks were understanding. They see the benefit in Djurgården playing in a higher league and Frondell facing better competition. The Blackhawks still offered him a training camp invite.
Recently, Frondell decided he wouldn't travel to Chicago for camp. He didn't want to interrupt his SHL season. Djurgården opened training camp last week and will begin its season in early September.
Wikegård believes Frondell's development will be best served by being in one place for an extended period. Wikegård used the last four months as an example; in that time, Frondell played with Djurgården until the end of the playoffs in April, then went to play in Texas for the U18s, then he was off to the NHL Scouting Combine, then the NHL Draft and finally the Blackhawks development camp.
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'If we hadn't talked to the junior team national coach, he would be with the junior national team now and then he would go to the camp with Chicago and then go back to us, then in November go to another camp with the international team and then the junior World Championship and so on and so on,' Wikegård said. 'So that's going to be like a wasted season for a guy like that. So we talked to his agent and Chicago too — I think they understand it — that this guy, this type of player in this age, he needs to go to the rink, put his physical clothes on, go to the gym, put his hockey gear on, practice day after day after day after day, play games.
'That's going to be an incredibly important season for this guy, and that's going to be extremely important for him in the coming 10 to 15 years. We've seen several guys in Sweden — we have William Eklund, who is the brother to Victor here, coming over to play those nine (NHL) games (in the 2021-22 season), coming home, didn't know where to find himself, probably. … NHL is the best league in the world, for sure, and everybody wants to play there, but they're going to have lots of time to come over and play there.'
Wikegård also believes Djurgården can provide the optimal development environment for Frondell. They know his game. They know what he needs to work on.
'When it comes to his hockey, he's such a big guy that he still has those hands, still has the ability to do things with the puck all the time, reads the play well, has a tremendous shot,' Wikegård said. 'He looks like a grown-up senior player already. … He's just going to have to keep being strong without the puck, read the play a little bit more, take a little more good decisions when it comes to the defensive play. Just keep on going to the gym, just keep practicing extra with the team and stuff like that.
'If he has time with us, that's going to be another step for him. He took a step from juniors to senior last year and this year it's going from the second league to the first league. Just put in repetitions and ice time, that's what you want to do, then you're going to have the whole package for many years.'
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What the Blackhawks will undoubtedly be interested in is how Djurgården actually uses Frondell. What position will he play? Where will he be in the lineup? How much ice time will he get? Will he be on the power play? Will Frondell's development be prioritized?
Wikegård can't guarantee anything, but he expects Frondell to play a key role this season. For now, Frondell will also play on the wing.
'In Sweden, we can't rebuild,' Wikegård said. 'We can't prioritize players. We have to win all the time. … When we build the team before the season starts, him and another guy named Victor Eklund are on first three lines with us, so he's gonna have his time. He's going to have his games; he is going to have his shifts at five-on-five and five-on-four, probably not four-on-five, but he's a regular player in our lineup. That's what we feel about him.
'We're not going to play a guy like Anton Frondell or Victor Eklund in a fourth line. We're going to place them in creative spots where they should be. They should play in their role that they are meant to play in, probably the same thing up in Chicago, I guess. You're not gonna play Anton in a checking line. So he's going to play creative minutes in our line.'
Frondell will also have meetings every two weeks with coaches to go over his development plan.
'They do special drills for him, covering the puck, strong on the boards, you know, all those things,' Wikegård said. 'He's still so young, so in Sweden, you have hockey gymnasium, hockey school, so he's working on the fundamentals all the time. We try to add another 80-90 extra practices for all these young players this year. So games, regular training and 75-80 extra practices for him just working on the fundamentals.'
Frondell was likely a long shot to make the Blackhawks this season. If he can continue to develop at Djurgården and be ready for the NHL a season from now, that's all that matters.