The Chicago Blackhawks have a lot of stock in their young players. Two of them, Connor Bedard and Anton Frondell, seem to be getting along great.
The Chicago Blackhawks have a lot of stock put in their young players. Drafting and developing have been the biggest keys to their rebuild.
Connor Bedard was the prize of the entire process, as the Blackhawks earned the right to draft him by winning the 2023 NHL Draft Lottery. Since then, he has become an NHL superstar.
Other young players have come in since then, but few have had the excitement that Anton Frondell produced with his NHL debut on Wednesday. The third overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft has an incredible set of skills that will allow him to have a long career.
A strong season in the SHL and an elite showing en route to a Gold Medal at the 2025-26 World Junior Championships made Jeff Blashill comfortable throwing him into the fire right when he arrived in the NHL.
Frondell played his first NHL game on the first line and the top power play unit. Of course, that meant playing with Connor Bedard. Getting on a line with the team's top superstar is never an easy task, but Frondell was up to the challenge.
It was an impressive debut for Frondell, who collected his first NHL point with an assist on an Ilya Mikheyev goal. He had to use Connor Bedard as a decoy to spring Mikheyev, which required tremendous confidence as he's looking off one of the best players in the world.
On the ice, these two have the skills to feed each other. Bedard and Frondell each have an elite shot, but they use it in different ways. Each of them is also a tremendous playmaker, so defending against them will be difficult as they develop further.
Although Bedard is just 20 years old, he knows he already has a leadership role in the organization and takes it seriously. It isn't just about having an "A" on your sweater and playing the game at a high level. It is about making everyone around you comfortable.
Frondell's comments after the game made it clear that Bedard is doing the right things to help out those coming into the lineup.
“Connor sits beside me here," Frondell said. "A really good guy, giving me good tips and everything.”
Jeff Blashill started their line to open the game, and Bedard let Frondell begin his NHL career by taking the opening faceoff. The signs of two stars developing a friendship right away are there.
That relationship will enhance their ability to play together on the hockey side. Enjoying your teammates is important to winning hockey in the NHL, and these two young stars are winners who are beginning to enjoy each other.
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