(Editor’s note: It’s Draft week. As we look ahead to whom the Blackhawks may be selecting with the No. 3 pick on Friday night, we start with the name that seems to be gaining traction as Chicago’s projected selection.)
Swedish standout Anton Frondell is a somewhat controversial prospect for the 2025 NHL Draft: he’s a toolsy, physically mature young player who has projectable pro-game skills that blend defensive reliability with the upside of an impressive shot, but his inconsistent body of work the past season fueled a debate around his true ceiling in the NHL. There’s little doubt that Frondell can play in the NHL one day, but how high up the lineup he’ll go remains the question.
Summary
Frondell started turning heads at the age of 16 with a dominant showing in Sweden’s J20 Nationell league, racking up 39 points (18 G, 21 A) in 29 games, and a strong showing at the U18 Five Nations tournament in February 2024, where he finished with five goals and an assist in six games. He missed the end of the season with an undisclosed injury, but Frondell set expectations pretty high for his draft season.
Another injury (knee) would delay his pre-draft season the first few weeks, unfortunately. Once cleared to play, he struggled to find his footing early on and was shuffled between Djurgårdens IF’s J20 and HockeyAllsvenskan (Sweden’s secondary professional league) as a result. This slow start to the season combined with an unremarkable 2024 World Junior A Challenge tournament ultimately led to him being left off Sweden’s roster for the IIHF World Junior Championship this past winter.
Things started to turn around for Frondell in January, and he went on to have a strong second-half surge in Allsvenskan, featuring several multiple multi-point efforts. He finished the season with 25 points (11 G, 14 A) in 29 games, putting together one of the more impressive U18 points campaigns in the league’s history. His 0.89 point-per-game rate in a draft season was better than former Allsvenskan players turned NHL stars like William Nylander (0.77 in 25 games) and David Pastrnak (0.67 in 36 games), and just slightly below Elias Pettersson (0.95 in 43 games).
That’s not bad company at all.
Läs mer https://www.secondcityhockey.com/top-of-the-draft-introducing-anton-frondell/