Anton Frondell is playing key minutes with Djurgården in the SHL. Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images
The Chicago Blackhawks are keeping close tabs on Anton Frondell's season in Sweden for obvious reasons. After drafting him at No. 3 this year, he's expected to be a major part of their future.
So when Frondell was demoted to Djurgården's 13th forward and saw just 2:42 of ice time in an SHL game in late October just two weeks after he scored five goals, including a "Michigan," over the course of two games, there was instant concern within the Blackhawks. Had Frondell done something wrong? Was it his play? Something off the ice? This wouldn't be the start of having to worry about his development in Sweden, right?
The Blackhawks were quickly put at ease after a conversation with the team, and recently, Djurgården coach Robert Kimby explained that decision and Frondell's overall development during an interview with The Athletic.
Djurgården decided to scale back the 18-year-old's role to take the spotlight off him and let him take a breath. He had the been talk of the SHL and beyond after pulling off the lacrosse-style goal and then following that up with a hat trick. He played four more games, scoring in one, before he was moved down the lineup.
"He had a week where he had two goals one game, a hat trick one game, and so there was tons of attention from everything around, you know, media and a lot of questions with TV and stuff like that, so I just think that was a lot for him," Kimby said by phone from Sweden. "So, it was more of a reset thing for us. OK, well, one step back and then two steps forward. It was one game he was an extra forward and then we had him in the lineup the next game. So, that was kind of the plan -- just for him to to reset and bounce back from a lot of things happening around him."
Kimby said he didn't see all the attention necessarily affecting Frondell's game, but it was a decision made on the basis of doing what the organization thought was best for his long-term development and trying not to overwhelm him.
"For all these young players, I don't know if it's the same with North America, but here in Sweden with the draft summer they have, they go back and forward across the pond, four times, three times, with the development camps and then the national team and stuff like that," Kimby said. "It's just been a hectic three, four months. With the experience the club has or, in general, I think, the Swedish clubs have to help them out, a reset early on is a good thing. We ended up like, OK, let's have one of those, and we talked to him and we worked a lot in practice for a couple of days and then dive right back into it. So it wasn't him handling it bad or anything."
Frondell was the 13th forward the one game, started the next game on the fourth line and scored a goal while playing 9:01. The next game he was back playing top-six minutes again and had 17:46 of ice time.
Kimby also thought Frondell understood their reasoning and was eager to get back to playing.
"I think that's one of his strengths, too," Kimby said. "Because he just wants to be on the ice and he takes those, like for every young player, ups and downs, he handles them very good. It doesn't stress him out. He's just, OK, let's go to work and keep working."
Aside from those few games, Kimby hasn't been reluctant to play Frondell in key roles. He had already done so last season when Djurgården was in Sweden's second division, but it was unknown whether that would change with the team moving up to the top division. Part of Djurgården's reasoning when it encouraged Frondell to skip the Blackhawks' training camp was to give him the best opportunity to succeed in the SHL, and Kimby thought Frondell benefited from that decision. Frondell proved early into Djurgården's schedule that he could be relied upon against better competition.
For the most part, Frondell has been consistently playing quality minutes. Depending on the game, he's ranged from around 12 to 16 minutes. He's played on the first, second and third lines at both center and wing. There are areas, like faceoffs, where Frondell shows his age, but Kimby has found Frondell to be a reliable, two-way player.
Part of why Kimby sometimes has put Frondell on the wing instead of at center is to relieve some of that self-imposed pressure to be responsible. If Kimby had a knock on Frondell's game right now, it'd be that he's too unselfish. It's actually something the Blackhawks think about Frondell's game, too.
Kimby provided an example.
"Let's say you have a chance to forecheck and he'll make sure to cover his guy instead of going himself sometimes," he said. "With the skill set he has, the shot he has, we want him to be a little bit more selfish sometimes. Because he has in this league already a top-level shot and has to use it more.
"But it's been a good start for sure. He plays at the end of the games and he does it well. But like I said, the games that we feel like it's been down, it's mostly because he really, really really wants to do everything right all the time. So, we talked to him, like, it's OK if sometimes things go wrong, just go from there. The games he's been really good, he's been dominating."
The best example of that is when Frondell went off for five goals over the two games. Kimby and everyone else around Djurgården could see it coming, too.
"You could almost tell a couple of days before that, OK, he's on fire now because I think the practice between those games, I don't think he missed a shot," Kimby said. "And the practices before when he had the lacrosse goal, the same thing, like his confidence with his shot was just there. And that's one of the things I think that when he feels like he has one of those days or has it, he takes the puck to the net and he's strong on the puck. Like you can tell he trusts his strength compared to games where things are not going as smooth as you always want it to be. I think those are the things where we want to push on."
Djurgården was back in action Wednesday after a short break. Frondell had a primary assist and played 12:16. For the season, he has eight goals and five assists in 18 games.
There is a chance Frondell joins the Blackhawks late in the season depending on how Djurgården's season plays out. The team is currently fourth in the SHL table and a deep run in the SHL playoffs is possible because its young players have the potential to evolve over the season.
"We know that we have these young guys with a really high potential and really high skill set," Kimby said. "But for us, we build a roster with players around them. So when they have they that development that we think they can have, that's going to be our X factor that's gonna make this team better instead of building the team (like) 'OK, these guys are gonna be our top players' and then you put the pressure on them."