The Chicago Blackhawks are wrapping up another season in a rebuild as they enter Tuesday’s game with 65 points, tied for second-worst in the league. While the Blackhawks are struggling this season, the future is looking bright in terms of the rebuild.

And now, fans will get a look at the organization’s top prospect right away.

Chicago decided to call up top prospect Anton Frondell who was playing in the Swedish League Playoffs this past weekend. Once his team was eliminated, he made his way to the team and now he’s ready for his debut.

Anton Frondell to debut against Islanders

After the call up, Frondell is now expected to play on Tuesday and will do so on the top line with Connor Bedard. This comes nine months after he was taken with the third overall pick in the draft.

For Bedard, he’s excited to play alongside Frondell.

“It’s great,” said Bedard via ESPN. “Just throw him in there and give him the minutes, power play and just have him in the same role he was playing in all year.”

This isn’t a case of rushing up a prospect too soon, either. The Blackhawks need to see what they have and it’s clear that Frondell has done enough for Jeff Blashill to bring him up.

If you’re wondering what to expect from Frondell, here was the scouting report for him following the draft selection:

After registering 0.86 points per game in the Allsvenskan, Frondell is without peer among U18 players at that level of hockey. His per-game production outpaces that of William Nylander, David Pastrnak and Filip Forsberg at the same age. He had another seven points in the playoffs as Djugården earned promotion to the SHL.

So why isn’t he a lock to go in the top five? Frondell, oddly enough, underwhelmed against his own age group and early-season injuries knocked him out of some of the biggest competitions.

When he is at his best, Frondell is a hard-driving forward who can get to the interior and score goals. He is committed to two-way ability and physicality to impose his will on games. Which is why a lot of us were perplexed as to why we didn’t see that regularly with his own age group. The inconsistency is a concern, but his best games are better than most other players in this draft, which in a weaker draft year is worth betting on, in my estimation.

The season might be disappointing, but it will be exciting for fans to see Bedard and Frondell play together.

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The Chicago Blackhawks have been the worst or second-worst team in the NHL for the last two years. That may not change. In 2025-26, they’re going to be featuring a very young, inexperienced roster that might prevent them from making any meaningful steps towards competitiveness.

NHL analyst says Chicago Blackhawks will not be better in 2025-26

The Chicago Blackhawks have some young pieces that could help them be a pretty good team in the near future. Unfortunately, that’s mainly all they have, and that’s not enough for them to get better in 2025-26 than they were last season.

Bleacher Report insider Lyle Fitzsimmons said, “There’s ample reason to like Connor Bedard. And we also like Anton Frondell, who’d been ranked by Central Scouting before the draft as the No. 1 international skater and was available for the Blackhawks at No. 3 overall.”

As for the rest of the roster? “Not so much. Chicago’s attempt to add talent around Bedard in 2024-25 fell flat, and the pipeline, while hardly empty, probably won’t produce enough in the way of results to better the 61 points they compiled.”

The Blackhawks have really been working on stockpiling young players, but those players are not all NHL-ready. In fact, most of them aren’t, and the ones who are are probably not going to be all that good. It’s really going to be the Connor Bedard show.

That said, that’s not a problem. This is a rebuild for the future, not for 2025-26. There is no impetus for the Blackhawks to be good in 2025-26. They can withstand another year of failure as they push for a better future when these young players are in their prime.

Plus, in Gacin McKenna’s draft class, losing more and recording fewer than 61 points like last year is far from a bad thing. That doesn’t guarantee they’ll land the top pick and get McKenna, but it certainly gives them a better chance than had they gone all-in on free agency and stocked up the roster with capable veterans. It is a subtle tank job, but it’s not a bad idea whatsoever. It just also means there’s probably not much improvement on the way.

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Anton Frondell threw the Chicago Blackhawks a curveball after they selected him with the No. 3 pick in June’s draft.

Per Scott Powers of The Athletic, Chicago learned about Frondell’s plan to return to the SHL after they drafted him.

“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,” Powers wrote. “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.”

Anton Frondell declined an invitation to Chicago Blackhawks camp

Chicago offered Frondell an invite to training camp, but the forward declined. The decision is at odds with what he told reporters following his selection on draft night.

“If I get the chance to take a spot on the team, I will do everything I can to do that, to play,” Frondell said on June 27. “And if I’m not good enough, if I don’t make it, I’m going back to Djurgårdens.”

Per Powers, the decision for Frondell to return to Djurgarden was made last fall.

“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,” said Djurgarden general manager Niklas Wikegård. “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.”

The Blackhawks are okay with the plan

The Blackhawks are “understanding” of the plan, as the SHL is superior to the play Frondell would see if he played on the Rockford IceHogs. Still, there was a possibility that Chicago would give Frondell a spot on the Blackhawks after training camp, allowing him to build chemistry with young players like Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar as their young core develops.

That won’t happen until at least next year.

One wonders why Frondell wasn’t honest with the Blackhawks before the draft. It’s a curious way to start a relationship.

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The Chicago Blackhawks knew there was a possibility that Anton Frondell would not be with the team in the upcoming season. On draft night, Frondell said it was his intention to return to the Swedish Hockey League to play for Djurgarden if he didn’t make the NHL roster out of training camp.

Now it’s unclear if Frondell will even show up to training camp.

Per Scott Powers of The Athletic, Frondell’s agent J.P. Barry sent out a text that indicated the forward was focusing on preparing for the upcoming season in the SHL over participating with the Blackhawks in training camp.

“It’s up to (Frondell), but he’s leaning towards simply establishing himself in Djurgården for one big development season and leaving to come over to camp can interrupt a strong start over there also,” Barry wrote.

The Chicago Blackhawks schedule overlaps with the SHL

Djurgården’s training camp begins on July 28, and they will play their first game on September 13. The calendar conflicts with the Blackhawks, who are set to start training camp in late September.

Frondell helped Djurgården earn a promotion to the SHL and wants to play one season in that league before committing to Chicago, a team with which he signed a three-year entry-level contract on Tuesday. If he plays in fewer than 10 NHL games this season, the contract will slide a year.

Kyle Davidson expected Anton Frondell to be at training camp

In June, Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson said he was hopeful Frondell would be available for training camp but predicted he’d play in the SHL for the upcoming season.

“I believe he’ll be able to come to training camp, yeah,” Davidson said. “There’s probably contract situations and all that has to be figured out before that, but we’ll see. I don’t think we have any expectation one way or another right now.

“The plan as we stand here today is that he’s playing in Djurgården in the SHL next year, but we’ve got a lot of time to figure out if that’s the best path. I think it’s a great path if that’s the one that occurs. We’ll just kind of figure that out.”

The Blackhawks think highly of Frondell. There’s a good possibility he’d make the NHL roster for the upcoming season if he participated in training camp.

While Chicago would like for Frondell to build chemistry with Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar, the team understands that the SHL is a solid developmental opportunity for the promising prospect out of Sweden.

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It was obvious that the Chicago Blackhawks thought highly of Swedish forward Anton Frondell when they took him with the No. 3 pick in the NHL draft in June. Frondell joined a talented young core of Frank Nazar and Connor Bedard.

Frondell told the Blackhawks that he intends to earn a spot on the Blackhawks in training camp. However, if he doesn’t make the cut, as often happens with rookies taken in the first round, he plans to return to the Swedish Hockey League to play for Djurgårdens rather than play for the Rockford IceHogs in the upcoming season.

Chicago Blackhawks projected to keep Anton Frondell

Scott Powers of The Athletic projected Frondell to make the roster cut after training camp. Powers is reporting that Chicago is planning to give him every opportunity to make the team for the upcoming season.

“The more I hear about what the Blackhawks think of No. 3 draft pick Anton Frondell, the more I think he’s going to stick with them out of training camp,” Powers wrote. “How he does in the Tom Kurvers Prospects Showcase could be an early indication…

“In the case of Frondell, the Blackhawks are likely going to give him every opportunity to make the team, meaning he’ll likely play in a lot of preseason games, too. With the focus being so much on development and playing the young players this season, there’s really no downside for him being in the NHL.”

Powers believes that Chicago could use the upcoming season to experiment with Bedard and Frondell as linemates.

Given general manager Kyle Davidson’s decision to have a boring free agency in favor of promoting young talent, allowing Frondell to develop under first-year head coach Jeff Blashill might make more sense than giving the roster spot to another player for a team that isn’t going to compete for the playoffs.

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The Chicago Blackhawks made an interesting decision with the No. 3 pick, taking centre Anton Frondell out of Sweden. The Blackhawks were already stacked with young centres Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar.

Chicago will have to decide whether to switch Frondell, Bedard, or Nazar to wing. Before the draft, Frondell told Scott Powers of The Athletic that he wanted to play center at the NHL level.

The coaching staff will have to make that decision by seeing how Frondell plays on the ice. Frondell, 18, is not expected to play in the NHL in the upcoming season, and that could make it harder for the Blackhawks to develop the young player in their system.

Anton Frondell sent the Chicago Blackhawks an ultimatum

Per Charlie Roumeliotis of WGN Radio, Frondell told the media on Friday that he does not plan to play for the Rockford Icehogs if he doesn’t make the Blackhawks roster–he’ll go back to Sweden to play hockey next season.

“If I get the chance to take a spot on the team, I will do everything I can to do that, to play,” Frondell said. “And if I’m not good enough, if I don’t make it, I’m going back to Djurgårdens.”

Anton Frondell on where he plans to play in the 2025-26 season: "If I get the chance to take a spot on the team, I will do everything I can to do that, to play. And if I'm not good enough, if I don't make it, I'm going back to Djurgårdens." #Blackhawks

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) June 28, 2025

The ultimatum was clear from Frondell to an organization that prides itself on developing players in the AHL: Either put him on the Blackhawks roster, or he’ll develop under his coaches in the Swedish Hockey League.

Frondell is hopeful he can impress new head coach Jeff Blashill and his staff in training camp. He wants to play with Connor Bedard in the upcoming season.

“I’ve been following him since way back when his name was starting to get bigger,” Frondell said of Bedard. “Since he got drafted to Chicago, I started following Chicago on Instagram. If I have a chance to play with him, it will be really cool.”

It could be a while before Blackhawks fans see Frondell play in Illinois.

For More Chicago Sports:

Follow me on Twitter at @JordanSig, and follow us @ChiCitySports23. You can also reach out to Jordan Sigler via email at jordanmsigler@gmail.com. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest in ALL of Chicago sports, click here! Chicago Bears, Chicago Bulls, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Chicago Blackhawks

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