Dietz: Hawks optimistic about Frondell’s future

As Anton Frondell skated through the neutral zone late in the first period against the Islanders last Tuesday, he spotted a wide-open Ilya Mikheyev bolting down the left side.

The 18-year-old rookie delivered a perfect pass and Mikheyev did the rest, shooting the puck past Isles goalie David Rittich to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead. Tyler Bertuzzi and Frank Nazar added goals in the next eight minutes, and the Hawks hung on to claim a 4-3 victory.

“The first shift I thought, 'Oh, wow. This is going really fast,'” said Frondell, who was making his NHL debut. “Like (Mathew Barzal) there, when he comes in at high speeds, it's hard to know what to do. But I just try my best (and) try to compete.”

Frondell is the latest Diaper Dandy to join the Hawks — just one of the 5,555 highly touted draft picks gobbled up by GM Kyle Davidson over the last few years. So when will all of this talent translate into winning seasons and playoff appearances? And is Davidson the right man for the job? Those are tough questions we'll attempt to answer next week.

For now, let's focus on Frondell. For you casual fans out there, here are the CliffsNotes:

• The Hawks drafted Frondell with the No. 3 pick overall last June. He's 6-foot-1, 198 pounds and built like a tank.

• Frondell became the fourth 18-year-old to score 20-plus goals in the SHL, joining Daniel Sedin, Markus Naslund and Tomas Sandstrom. He finished seventh in scoring with 28 points in 43 games.

• Frondell led Sweden to a gold medal at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship, notching 5 goals and 3 assists. It was his shootout winner against Czechia that sent Sweden to the title game. He was named the tournament's top forward.

Needless to say, the Hawks are quite excited about his potential.

“He's played pro hockey for two years,” coach Jeff Blashill said after the win over the Islanders. “Sometimes when guys come from juniors or college they rarely have to defend because they have the puck the whole time.

“He doesn't cheat for offense. He's had to defend, he's had to be a fourth-liner. … So I think it helps him grow. Learning how to produce offense while playing a two-way game is the biggest thing to becoming a winning hockey team — and he already kind of does that.”

Frondell was beaming after the victory.

And why not?

One period, one point.

One game, one victory.

“It still feels like a dream,” he said.

One could forgive him if he thought: Hey, piece of cake.

Yeah, not quite.

Two nights later, an embarrassing miscommunication between defenseman Artyom Levshunov and goalie Spencer Knight allowed Flyers forward Christian Dvorak to steal the puck behind the net. A moment later: Boom, it was 1-0 Flyers just 48 seconds into the game. The Hawks lost 5-1.

The next night was worse, with the Rangers ripping off 6 unanswered goals en route to a 6-1 victory.

The Hawks allowed 81 shots on goal and 140 total shots in the two games. They looked like a junior team for the majority of both contests.

“We have a whole bunch of guys going through the NHL schedule for the first time,” said Blashill, who also noted it's a condensed schedule due to the Olympic break. “It's a hard challenge for a group as young as we are. But we've got to respond to the challenge.”

It's a challenge that will be there for Frondell next year as well. And, soon enough, forwards like Sacha Boisvert, AJ Spellacy, Roman Kantserov, Marek Vanacker and Vaclav Nestrasil. Some need to adjust better than others if the Hawks hope to join the league's elite sooner rather than later.

There's little doubt Blashill believes Frondell is up to the task.

“He's got really good pro habits,” Blashill said. “Like he stops on pucks, he doesn't wave off people, he's hard on the puck, wins puck battles down low. (On) the assist (against the Islanders), a lot of young players might have forced that puck to (Connor Bedard) cause he was kind of cutting through the middle. And he didn't. …

“He let a couple good shots go. He's a really good player.”

John Dietz, a sports writer at the Daily Herald from 1998-2024, covered the Blackhawks from 2014-24. You can reach him at jdietz6917@hotmail.com.