2025 Blackhawks Top 25 Under 25: Anton Frondell debuts at No. 7

The 2025 version of Second City Hockey’s Top 25 Under 25 rankings continues with our Top 10, which will contain a lengthier breakdown of each individual who made it into that group.

Anton Frondell

Position: Center/Wing

Birth date: May 07, 2007 (18)

Acquired via: First-round pick (3rd overall) in 2025 NHL Draft

2024-25 team : Djurgårdens IF (HockeyAllsvenskan)

2024-25 stats: 25 points (11 G, 14 A) in 29 regular season games, 7 points (3 G, 4 A) in 16 playoff games

Size: 6-foot-1, 205 pounds

Contract: Three years, $975,000 AAV (entry-level)

Rankings: 5 (LBR), 6 (Dave), 7 (Eric), 8 (Zack)

Last T25U25 ranking: N/A

At SCH, we\'ve already written in-depth about Frondell’s skill set, strengths, weaknesses, and more twice this summer: first was a shorter summary in our Top of the Draft series, and the second was a much more detailed analysis in our What Are the Blackhawks getting series.

https://www.secondcityhockey.com/top-of-the-draft-introducing-anton-frondell

https://www.secondcityhockey.com/chicago-blackhawks-2025-nhl-draft-anton-frondell-scouting-report-projections-analysis

While we think reading these will give everyone the best understanding of Frondell as a player currently, we\'ll do a recap here as well.

Frondell made waves at 16 with 39 points (18 G, 21 A) in 29 games in Sweden’s J20 Nationell and a strong U18 Five Nations showing in early 2024 (5 G, 1 A in 6 games). An undisclosed injury ended his season early but set high expectations for his draft year. A knee injury delayed his start in 2024–25, and early struggles saw him bounce between Djurgårdens IF’s J20 and the Allsvenskan. After an underwhelming World Junior A Challenge and missing Sweden’s World Junior roster, some concerns arose.

However, Frondell turned it around in January, finishing the Allsvenskan season with 25 points (11 G, 14 A) in 29 games -- one of the best U18 campaigns in league history. He added a solid U18 Five Nations (2 G, 4 A), but consistency issues resurfaced in the playoffs (7 points in 17 games) and at the U18 Worlds (3 points in 5 games), where his ice time was limited and he was even benched. Lack of consistency cause concern to remain, but the high-end potential of Frondell was still extremely tantalizing.

In terms of style, Frondell is a physically mature, two-way center with a lethal shot, strong off-puck instincts, and pro-ready habits. He brings a mix of scoring ability and reliability, but will need to improve his transition play and offensive creativity to reach his full potential.

At 6-1 and 205 pounds, Frondell plays bigger than his frame suggests. His physicality stands out and his game is built around that fact. He’s relentless on the forecheck, hard to move in front of the net, and consistently pressures opponents into mistakes. This physical edge, paired with good puck protection and board work, make him a valuable asset.

Offensively, Frondell is a versatile goal scorer who scores in various ways, whether it\'s by rebounds, deflections, and clean shots. His compact, powerful release makes him a power-play weapon, and his one-timer is highly dangerous. Essentially, his finishing touch is already pro-level. His playmaking, however, is inconsistent: he shows flashes of strong puck skills in-zone, but lacks high-end passing vision and often plays a supporting role rather than driving offense. This is especially apparent in transition, where he struggles with passing accuracy, and often defaults to conservative dump-ins rather than pushing the play.

Skating is another area for development. While Frondell has a powerful stride and decent straight-line speed, his first steps and lateral agility are lacking. This limits his effectiveness on the rush and in reacting quickly during transitions -- issues that could be exposed on smaller NHL ice. He’s more effective in-zone, where his edgework and size help him work through traffic and protect the puck.

Defensively, Frondell plays a mature, reliable game. He rarely cheats for offense, understands positioning, and excels in puck protection. His commitment to the dirty areas -- forechecking, backchecking, board battles -- makes him a strong two-way presence and a potential penalty killer at the next level. Frondell\'s work ethic, physicality, and team-first mentality give him a solid NHL floor. To elevate his ceiling, he’ll need to refine his skating and become more involved in transition and playmaking. He projects as a middle-six forward with goal-scoring upside and strong two-way value.

Here is what Zack wrote in in conclusion about Frondell in his deep dive linked above:

The biggest long-term question with Frondell centers on his offensive ceiling and ability to consistently deliver dynamic, game-changing impact. While technically sound, his approach to offense is often too straightforward, lacking the flair or creativity seen in higher-ceiling prospects. He currently projects more as a reliable middle-six forward than a true offensive driver — closer to Anton Lundell than Aleksander Barkov — but that could absolutely change with improvements in areas mentioned above. Regardless, Frondell has a strong foundation which can be built upon, embodying the modern NHL prototype of a forward who is capable of contributing offensively while maintaining defensive responsibility and physical presence.

Having already secured an offensive dynamo in Connor Bedard, the Blackhawks were looking to continue building their forward core with players who could complement their existing core, rather than add another high-end driver. Frondell’s two-way capabilities and physical style of play provide the type of supportive skill set that successful NHL teams are looking for throughout their lineup, especially with the recent success of the Florida Panthers, a team that enshrines depth throughout the lineup and gritty skills.

Not only do Anton Frondell and Aleksander Barkov have the same model statistical profile, they have the same body type and use their body to bull their way into opportunities, like few can.

They'll differ in how they produce. Barkov has a bit more finesse and set up to him and… pic.twitter.com/NSWolybUZX

— Byron Bader (@ByronMBader) September 4, 2025

I’ve watched quite a bit of Anton Frondell in the last little bit, I’m thinking not quite Aleksander Barkov, but close. And that’s about the highest praise I can give. 2nd highest ppg for a draft year player in HockeyAllsvenskan history while being a stud defensively #nhldraft25

— Nick Earle (@NickEarle1) September 3, 2025

So, Frondell offers a solid floor as a complementary middle-six forward, but the real question lies in his ceiling and how likely he is to reach it. On raw tools alone, he arguably boasts some of the highest boom potential in the Blackhawks prospect pool -- and there are those in the prospect evaluation community who do think he\'ll be closer to a Barkov than not -- but unlocking that upside will require significant development, particularly in areas like skating and transition play. At the same time, there\'s a non-zero chance he ends up falling short of expectations, especially given where he was taken in the draft. That wide range of outcomes made his debut spot on our list a tougher call than usual. Ultimately, we chose to balance Frondell’s tantalizing potential against his current performance and overall development curve, especially when compared to peers who have already proven themselves on North American ice.

So yes, arguably Frondell could go higher based on upside alone, but at this stage, it\'s about projecting not just what a player could become but also how likely he is to get there. If he strings together a more consistent season, closer to what he did in the second half of last year but including a strong playoff performance, he\'ll easily jump up the next iteration of this ranking.

On to what\'s happening in the near future for Frondell, he is currently playing preseason hockey with Djurgårdens IF in the SHL. His position in the lineup has varied per game: he was first slotted at second-line center but was moved to third-line center in another and most recently played as the third-line winger -- where he played the most last season when the team was in HockeyAllsvenskan. The team is obviously still working out where players will fit into the line-up.

#AISDIF | 𝗟𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗧

Här är vårt gula Djurgårdslag, för första gången på fyra år innehållandes Jacob Josefsons namn. Matchen sänds via Expressen +Allt - forza! 💛 #DIFHockey | #AlltidOavsett pic.twitter.com/w0FSWmuqfg

— Djurgården Hockey (@DIFHockeyse) August 22, 2025

#MIFDIF | 𝗟𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗧

Nyförvärvet Joey LaLeggia debuterar och här är dagens Djurgårdslag! 💛 #DIFHockey | #AlltidOavsett pic.twitter.com/XHdvgPYrXn

— Djurgården Hockey (@DIFHockeyse) August 30, 2025

Frondell did score twice, though:

Anton Frondell 🚨 #difhockey 🎥 ExpressenTV pic.twitter.com/3E4AuL5hOr

— SwehockeyGIFs (@swehockeygifs) August 22, 2025

Anton Frondell 🚨 Joey LaLeggia 🍎 #difhockey 🎥 Tv4 Play pic.twitter.com/AZMipBZXrH

— SwehockeyGIFs (@swehockeygifs) September 3, 2025

Since the Blackhawks signed Frondell to his entry-level contract in July, he\'s eligible to join the team in Chicago once his SHL season wraps up, if the timing aligns.

2025 Blackhawks Top 25 Under 25 list (so far): No. 8: Roman Kantersov No. 9: Kevin Korchinski No. 10: Oliver Moore No. 11-15: Lardis, Del Mastro, Kaiser, Boisvert, Reichel No. 16-20: Dach, Nestrasil, Commesso, Greene, Vanacker Nos. 21-25: Allan, Slaggert, Behm, Spellacy, Mustard Honorable Mentions: Pridham, Savoie, West

Anton Frondell

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