What Does Anton Frondell Bring to the Blackhawks?

The Bedard Line

A hot topic of conversation this season has been Connor Bedard’s linemates. He has spent the majority of the season with Ryan Greene and Andre Burakovsky, which has provided some much-needed continuity after being moved around a lot in previous seasons. Despite this, some questions remain as to how these two players complement Bedard’s skill set.

Burakovsky started the season hot and was a big reason the Blackhawks were in a playoff spot through the first quarter of the season. Since the mid-season injury trouble that shook up the lineup, the journeyman forward simply hasn’t found the same production. Greene, on the other hand, has had an opposite trajectory. He had some trouble producing on a line with one of the top talents in the league. Lately, he seems to be an asset.

Even though the rookie has looked promising as a long-term linemate to Bedard, Coach Blashill has expressed interest in moving him to the center position. Having played center most of his amateur career, his playmaking ability and high motor could make him a future third-line center.

How Frondell Fits With the Youth

Frondell himself is also a center, but Bedard needs a high-octane scorer that can fly in transition with him. With the two players sporting opposite-handedness, both sides of the offensive zone immediately become a one-timer threat. Frondell spent his debut on the first power-play unit, which did not produce any goal scoring.

Despite some conjecture that Frondell would replace Greene, Blashill ended up moving Burakovsky to the third line. The first line of Greene, Bedard, and Frondell is a pure youth movement move by the staff. They’re aged 22, 20, and 18, respectively, but it wasn’t always as pretty as people expected. The three were unable to combine for a goal. They moved well in transition and could turn pucks up ice quickly, but that was about the extent of it.

A couple more practices together will help a lot in promoting offensive zone production.

Frondell’s Debut

Finally, the puck was dropped, and Frondell took the opening face-off per Bedard’s encouragement to do so. The excitement was high, but it was quickly squandered with an Islanders goal just 49 seconds in. However, the Blackhawks went on to rally and take a 4-1 lead through the second. On the second goal, Frondell made an excellent heads-up pass through the neutral zone to hit Ilya Mikheyev in stride. This, of course, was Frondell’s first point in the league in his debut. 

The Islanders began to storm back, but ultimately the Blackhawks stayed strong and won 4-3. The Lardis-Nazar-Bertuzzi line stole the show in this one, especially Lardis, who recently received a promotion into the top six. He ended with a goal and three points, while his two linemates each logged a goal and an assist of their own.

If in the playoff hunt, Blash would likely keep these three together long term. But with the season winding down and the Blackhawks essentially eliminated from contention, we could see some line experiments down the stretch.

What’s Next?

Firstly, expect Frondell to stay put. Blashill got a lot of heat for staying put in his line combinations. Burakovsky on the first line, while Lardis on the fourth line raised some questions. Since then, that has changed, but he made sure to keep some continuity in the lineup. This was an area where the previous coaching staff seriously lacked. Because of this, the reasonable assumption would be that Frondell continues to build and grow on the first line.

Now, as mentioned prior, Greene could move down a line to play center. Expect any of the second line forwards to take his role, with Nazar and Lardis as the front runners. Moving Nazar to the wing on the first line would allow Greene to slot nicely into the center role with Lardis and Bert. A Nazar-Bedard-Frondell first line wouldn’t only make Blackhawks fans happy, but it could be the start of the future.