July 15: As was foretold, Frondell put pen to paper on his entry-level deal today, the team announced. The deal carries the maximum entry-level cap hit of $975K.
July 12: So far, only four of 32 first-round picks have signed their entry-level contracts. That number should soon be increasing as Expressen’s Gunnar Nordstrom reports that the Blackhawks will be signing Anton Frondell to his first contract early next week.
The 18-year-old was the third overall pick last month, giving Chicago what they hope will be another future high-end center to have behind Connor Bedard down the road.
Frondell spent the majority of last season at the Allsvenskan level, a second-division professional league. He played in 29 games with Djurgarden and fared quite well, notching 11 goals and 14 assists in 29 games. Frondell also notched seven points in 16 playoff games, earning his team a promotion to the SHL for 2025-26.
Frondell has one year left on his contract back home and it’s expected he will remain there next season instead of making the jump to come to North America. Nordstrom relays that the youngster isn’t expected to attend training camp with Chicago to focus on the start of the SHL regular season which begins on September 13th.
Once the season in Sweden comes to an end, Frondell would then be eligible to join Chicago, potentially suiting up for them for a handful of games down the stretch if Djurgarden doesn’t have a long playoff run. As long as he plays in nine or fewer games for the Blackhawks next season, an outcome that seems likely, Frondell’s deal will slide and still have three years remaining on it heading into 2026-27.
I mean, I would assume so. They drafted him after all. Was there a chance they were not expected to sign him?
I don’t think that was the point of the article.
The Hawks lost a 1st round pick a few years back b/c the player refused to sign, he wanted to play on the Rangers with his brother. It’s a two way street.
The brother who has since sadly passed away. Didn’t love losing Kevin but didn’t hold a grudge – has managed to have a pretty decent NHL career for himself amidst the difficulty of losing his brother at such a young age.
It’s a case of signing him for 3 years, Letting him play pro in Sweden and honor his contract and still getting their 3 years worth. Swedish pro league is probably comparable to him playing this year at Rockford but him being more comfortable playing at home. It’s just a case of having your cake and eating it too.
From what ive read he’s going to get every shot to make the team, he’ll probably get at least up to 9 games this season
From what I just read…he’s staying in Sweden and isn’t even going to be at camp.
Correct. He’s staying in Sweden until their season ends and then coming back here where he won’t play enough games to wipe out his first year of the ELC. And their season starts basically around when Camp starts here.
martone would have been the perfect wingman for bedard
I’m not a Blackhawks fan by any means, but I think they are going to be a good up and coming team in a year or two. Kind of jealous, because the Flames don’t like tearing it down. Flames will never get players like this.