Top Blackhawks prospect Anton Frondell is making his NHL debut at the Islanders
NEW YORK (AP) — Anton Frondell was playing in the Swedish hockey league playoffs on Saturday and got the call shortly after his team was eliminated that the Chicago Blackhawks want their top prospect to come to North America. Not eventually. Now.
“I was shocked,” the 18-year-old Frondell said. “Everything has been going really fast. ” That includes being thrust into the action, making his NHL debut on Tuesday at the New York Islanders on Chicago's top line alongside Connor Bedard and as part of the first power play unit.
Nine months after he was taken with the third pick in the draft, Frondell is getting a big role right away. “It’s great," said Bedard, the face of the franchise. "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.
” Coach Jeff Blashill wants Frondell, who turns 19 in May, to “capitalize on the confidence he has coming into the league. ” That's the thought process behind seeing how Frondell handles hockey in the deep end. “If I didn’t think he could handle the spots that I’m putting him in, I wouldn’t do it right away because you don’t want to set somebody up for struggles,” Blashill said.
“I think he can handle it, and I think he’s prepared at this moment to walk in and be successful in those spots. ” Frondell's first game in the league comes against someone he got to know throughout the pre-draft process: now-Islanders defenseman Matthew Schaefer , who was taken with the first pick and has since shown why. Schaefer has been a revelation.