Anton Frondell to make Blackhawks debut next to Connor Bedard: ‘He can handle it’

ELMONT, N.Y. — Blackhawks rookie Anton Frondell stepped on the ice Tuesday morning at UBS Arena and, frankly, felt “very nervous.”

Just three days earlier, his season in Sweden had ended in a disappointing playoff loss, after which he almost immediately received a call from the Hawks: “You’re coming.”

The 18-year-old forward made it to Long Island on Monday in time for a dinner with his new teammates, starting the process of getting to know them. His parents and sister are also traveling with him for now.

He will make his much-anticipated NHL debut Tuesday against the Islanders and rookie phenom Matthew Schaefer, who was drafted two picks ahead of Frondell in the top three last summer.

“It felt hard to breathe out there [this morning], but now I’m ready for the game, hopefully,” Frondell said.

Hawks coach Jeff Blashill immediately slotted Frondell on the first line next to Connor Bedard and Ryan Greene, demoting Andre Burakovsky down to the third line in an unexpected move that delighted fans.

Frondell also slotted in on the top power-play unit, occupying the right flank — the spot where he unleashed some highlight-reel one-timers in a dominant showing for Sweden in the world junior championships in December.

“If I didn’t think he could handle the spots 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’ve watched him a lot. I know his game pretty well — with the exception of being with him day-to-day — and I think he can handle it. I think he’s prepared at this moment to walk in and have success in those spots.

“Now, does that mean it’s going to be easy sailing? No, this league is a hard league. There’s going to be ups and downs throughout the course of his career, much less these next few weeks.”

Blashill’s message directly to Frondell was a bit simpler than that, though.

“You’re going to make mistakes, and I don’t care about mistakes,” Blashill told him. “We care about learning from him, which we will do. But don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Go out and play.”

Visa at last

It’s almost comical that Frondell will end up making his NHL debut before Sacha Boisvert, considering the latter finished his college season and joined the Hawks over a week ago now.

Boisvert’s wait for a U.S. work visa proved excruciatingly long, but he finally received it Tuesday morning and was able to take part in morning skate.

Blashill said Boisvert will debut later on this four-game road trip. Thursday against the Flyers seems likely to be the day.

Demoted at last

After 26 games with just two points to his name, Burakovsky has finally been taken out of the top six, at least for now.

“He’s done a ton of good stuff,” Blashill said. “He’s tracked extremely hard. He’s stopped in the ‘D’-zone. He’s done all the things I’ve asked of him. His production hasn’t been to the level that he expects or we want, [even though] the chances have been there. It’s a chance for him to give us some depth scoring down the lineup a little bit, which we need.”

Swedish lessons

Frondell mentioned being proud of the fact he scored more goals this season (20) for Djurgardens, his Swedish club, in the country’s top pro league than he did last season (11) in their second division — albeit in more games.

He most noticed the increase in physicality between the two leagues, however, and it took him time to adjust to that, even with his sturdy 6-1, 198-pound frame.

“Everyone was stronger, I felt like,” Frondell said. “It was experienced players who know how to battle in the corners, know how to use their bodies. Sometimes I felt that. I got run over a couple times, and tried to learn from it. It’s a hard game, hockey. You need to battle, and I like to do that.”

His play really took off during the second half of the season after winning gold at the WJC, and he said the memory of that fueled him and fellow Djurgardens youngsters Victor Eklund (an Islanders prospect) and Viggo Bjorck (a projected lottery pick this year).

“All of us brought that gold energy, if you could say, back home,” he added. “Whenever we had a tough day at Djurgardens, we could still think back to the gold-medal game and find some energy.”