Has Anton Frondell been as advertised for the Blackhawks?

Five games in and Anton Frondell is completely as advertised for the Chicago Blackhawks: 200-foot game, great speed, solid shot, overall hockey smarts, and little confusion making the transition from European hockey to North American. After his debut against the Islanders, a couple of games later, Frondell has found himself on a line with veterans Tyler Bertuzzi and Ilya Mikheyev, who singlehandedly nearly won the game against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night.

Frondell found himself a line

If you told me that Frondell would find most of his success with Mikheyev and Bertuzzi on a makeshift third line, I would've called you insane. However, now that I've seen it in action, I have changed my mind completely. How these three managed to keep the Chicago Blackhawks in the game on Tuesday night is beyond me, but I always found myself shocked by how easily they seemed to find offense. I suppose this is what happens when you put players with similar playstyles on the same line. Perhaps the Blackhawks will learn to do this with all of their bottom-six lines (the fourth line is useless, with no energy and no checking; AJ Spellacy should do the trick here in a season or so).

It was not a pretty game by this line, but it didn't matter. Bertuzzi had two goals, and Mikheyev had two assists, while Frondell scored the first goal of his career, bringing his total to five points in five games. This is one of the rare nights that a Blackhawks line had a great game that actually showed up on the stat sheet. Frondell also set up his teammates on multiple occasions against Winnipeg, but, unfortunately, like Frank Nazar's chance, the ensuing shot didn't go in.

The eye-check clearly says "Yep, Frondell is as advertised," and the stat sheet agrees. There are a couple of things that he may need to fix, such as the miscommunication on covering Josh Morrissey. He could have kept up with Morrissey as he drove to the net as Vlasic was covering Frondell's zone, and his face-offs could use some work, but all of the Blackhawks' centers need to work on this.

Can Frondell keep up this momentum and have yet another good game on the third line? We will see, but so far, I don't see why not. This could very well be yet another Chicago third-overall draft pick success, as well as another Swedish number 16 who contributes to Stanley Cup runs down the line.