The Chicago Blackhawks knew there was a possibility that Anton Frondell would not be with the team in the upcoming season. On draft night, Frondell said it was his intention to return to the Swedish Hockey League to play for Djurgarden if he didn’t make the NHL roster out of training camp.
Now it’s unclear if Frondell will even show up to training camp.
Per Scott Powers of The Athletic, Frondell’s agent J.P. Barry sent out a text that indicated the forward was focusing on preparing for the upcoming season in the SHL over participating with the Blackhawks in training camp.
“It’s up to (Frondell), but he’s leaning towards simply establishing himself in Djurgården for one big development season and leaving to come over to camp can interrupt a strong start over there also,” Barry wrote.
The Chicago Blackhawks schedule overlaps with the SHL
Djurgården’s training camp begins on July 28, and they will play their first game on September 13. The calendar conflicts with the Blackhawks, who are set to start training camp in late September.
Frondell helped Djurgården earn a promotion to the SHL and wants to play one season in that league before committing to Chicago, a team with which he signed a three-year entry-level contract on Tuesday. If he plays in fewer than 10 NHL games this season, the contract will slide a year.
Kyle Davidson expected Anton Frondell to be at training camp
In June, Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson said he was hopeful Frondell would be available for training camp but predicted he’d play in the SHL for the upcoming season.
“I believe he’ll be able to come to training camp, yeah,” Davidson said. “There’s probably contract situations and all that has to be figured out before that, but we’ll see. I don’t think we have any expectation one way or another right now.
“The plan as we stand here today is that he’s playing in Djurgården in the SHL next year, but we’ve got a lot of time to figure out if that’s the best path. I think it’s a great path if that’s the one that occurs. We’ll just kind of figure that out.”
The Blackhawks think highly of Frondell. There’s a good possibility he’d make the NHL roster for the upcoming season if he participated in training camp.
While Chicago would like for Frondell to build chemistry with Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar, the team understands that the SHL is a solid developmental opportunity for the promising prospect out of Sweden.
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