Why Blackhawks fans should expect Anton Frondell to arrive NHL-ready in 2026

Patience has been paramount over the past five seasons for Chicago Blackhawks fans. And, with their 2025 first-round pick from this past June, Anton Frondell, they learned early that they'll need to exercise just a little more patience.

Before heading into the Hawks system, Frondell will spend one more year in Sweden with Djurgardens, who moved up a rung to the SHL for 2025-26. It was the right move on Frondell's part, especially with the Hawks taking the long, and right, route this season.

Plus, with talent like the newly-extended Frank Nazar and 2024 second-overall pick Artyom Levshunov all but certainly playing full-time in Chicago this season, Frondell heading back Sweden to keep refining his game allows the Blackhawks to keep spoon-feeding youngsters into the big club.

That said, there's also a chance fans will see Frondell arrive NHL-ready in 2026-27, if he doesn't get a few games with the big club late this season. Once again, the Hawks figure to be trailing, and losing, often, so calling up young players from around the system is a real possibility this season.

Anton Frondell has a chance to kick his play up a notch and carry the momentum over

When Djurgardens was in HockeyAllsvenskan last season, Frondell joined them for 29 games and ended up with 25 points and 11 goals. Sure, he had growing pains, just like any player developing over in Europe, but those were promising numbers.

Now that Djurgardens is in the SHL, Frondell will face stiffer competition, but competition that's also seeing a player who took advantage of a full offseason and has only gotten better since 2024-25. This plays right into Frondell's hands, and not that it should, but it will foreshadow what you'll see from him in 2026-27 when he most likely ventures to North America.

Frondell should be more than ready to roll with the Hawks in 2026-27

This will lead him to be NHL-ready off the bat, and like I said earlier, it's something he could prove if and when he gets a cameo with the Hawks late in the year, should his season end early enough in the SHL.

Whether he gets reps this season for the Hawks or not, though, it's irrelevant. Frondell will most definitely see time with the big club next season, thanks to the way he performed last season, and the more intense competition he'll face in 2025-26.

This will best prepare him for the NHL level in 2026-27, meaning I can more than see him either playing very little, or not at all, in Rockford. So, Hawks fans, follow Frondell's progress this year in the SHL, watch his game grow, and expect him to hit the ground running in Chicago next October.

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