F Anton Frondell - Djurgårdens IF U16, U16 Div.1 (2025 Draft)

Yeah I don’t see it, like at all. I see a solid two way 2C who maybe is 60-70 in his prime years. Would be a nice player to have for sure.

Too many of you obsess over production comps. I’ve watched a lot of him, and really like his game. But I just don’t think he’s a dynamic scorer at the NHL level.

To be fair, a two-way C who scores 60-70 pts in his prime is a hugely valuable player, and well worth picking in the 3-6 range, especially in a weaker draft like this one.

My main concern with Frondell is that he's way closer to physical maturity than most of the top prospects in this draft. He's playing at 6 feet, 196 lbs; no wonder he looks so strong for a 17 YO, and can be productive in a tier II pro league. By comparison, the other centers in that range (McQueen, Desnoyers, O'Brien) are twigs, and scouts may well conclude that they have more potential for improvement.
 

A lengthy interview with him & Eklund. Notes that he hasn't really had injuries, just a singular (knee) injury that they chose not to get surgery on but eventually did.

His dad is a tennis player who wanted him to play tennis so when Anton first tried playing hockey his dad just gave him pink figure skating skates, a jofa helmet, galonbyxor, gloves and a stick, as if he had no thought it was going to be hockey and not tennis. Around a year later his dad realized it's hockey for Anton so he bought him real gear.
 
Anybody watch the game today? Nasty, physical affair. Bad blood. Two teams that hate each other. I’m only one period in and players are well past the chirping phase. Frondell with a sweet 1-on-1 move for a backhand chance and a slot deflection in the same shift. Got crosschecked and put in a headlock by #71. Big boy hockey for real.
 
To be fair, a two-way C who scores 60-70 pts in his prime is a hugely valuable player, and well worth picking in the 3-6 range, especially in a weaker draft like this one.

My main concern with Frondell is that he's way closer to physical maturity than most of the top prospects in this draft. He's playing at 6 feet, 196 lbs; no wonder he looks so strong for a 17 YO, and can be productive in a tier II pro league. By comparison, the other centers in that range (McQueen, Desnoyers, O'Brien) are twigs, and scouts may well conclude that they have more potential for improvement.

I’d agree with this take if he wasn’t playing against men in his league

Frondell behind Schaefer is probably the most NHL ready of them all


Nobody expected Pastrnak to score over 100 points a season and hit 60 goals

Frondell’s ceiling is a Swedish Matthew’s based on his style of play and shot so far

60 points imo is his floor for prime years. This isn’t the dead puck era anymore
 
I’d agree with this take if he wasn’t playing against men in his league

Frondell behind Schaefer is probably the most NHL ready of them all


Nobody expected Pastrnak to score over 100 points a season and hit 60 goals

Frondell’s ceiling is a Swedish Matthew’s based on his style of play and shot so far

60 points imo is his floor for prime years. This isn’t the dead puck era anymore
Pastrnak kinda demonstrates my point. The reason he was drafted so late is largely because he was a stick, and it was unclear whether he'd be able to deal with larger, more physical players in the NHL. But Pastrnak had a lot of runway left in his physical development; he gained 30 lbs, and proved he could play big-boy hockey after all.

Frondell doesn't have that same kind of runway. He's already pretty jacked, and it shows. And that's not a bad thing of course, but it matters in terms of projection. Frondell is playing against men, but men who are roughly the same size as the average CHL player. The current top scorer on Frondell's team is 5'6, 161 lbs; the Allsvenskan isn't a particularly tough, physical league. Frondell is already bigger than most players in that league, but that won't be the case in the NHL, and he'll have to develop other skills that will give him the time and space necessary to unleash his great shot.

And that's fine, he's a great prospect, who'll deservedly be picked somewhere in the top-6. And yes, I'd agree he's the most NHL-ready prospect in this draft (I'd put him above Schaefer in that respect). But your projections for him are wildly optimistic. There's very, very few prospects whose floor is a 60-point player, and there's none in this particular draft (such a prospect would be a lock at no1 this year). And the idea of him being a Swedish Matthews is a stretch. Matthews in his draft year was a much better skater, playmaker, puckhandler and was dominating a better league. Just a way more dynamic prospect overall.
 
Pastrnak kinda demonstrates my point. The reason he was drafted so late is largely because he was a stick, and it was unclear whether he'd be able to deal with larger, more physical players in the NHL. But Pastrnak had a lot of runway left in his physical development; he gained 30 lbs, and proved he could play big-boy hockey after all.

Frondell doesn't have that same kind of runway. He's already pretty jacked, and it shows. And that's not a bad thing of course, but it matters in terms of projection. Frondell is playing against men, but men who are roughly the same size as the average CHL player. The current top scorer on Frondell's team is 5'6, 161 lbs; the Allsvenskan isn't a particularly tough, physical league. Frondell is already bigger than most players in that league, but that won't be the case in the NHL, and he'll have to develop other skills that will give him the time and space necessary to unleash his great shot.

And that's fine, he's a great prospect, who'll deservedly be picked somewhere in the top-6. And yes, I'd agree he's the most NHL-ready prospect in this draft (I'd put him above Schaefer in that respect). But your projections for him are wildly optimistic. There's very, very few prospects whose floor is a 60-point player, and there's none in this particular draft (such a prospect would be a lock at no1 this year). And the idea of him being a Swedish Matthews is a stretch. Matthews in his draft year was a much better skater, playmaker, puckhandler and was dominating a better league. Just a way more dynamic prospect overall.

I think this is a good take but I do think 60 is a good estimate on his floor during his prime. 60 points isn’t that hard to reach for players anymore in the NHL especially players that are lined up with other elite players.

Let’s say he falls to the bruins, and centers Pastrnak eventually. I can absolutely see him hitting 20/40 or 30/30 by the time he’s 23ish. Not unrealistic at all

Btw, while he’s certainly more physically developed than pasta was at that age, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still have room to grow

Plenty of fast twitch muscles to develope, what happens to players when they get access to NHL rinks, equipment, trainers, medical staff?


Anyways I want Misa so 😂
 
I think this is a good take but I do think 60 is a good estimate on his floor during his prime. 60 points isn’t that hard to reach for players anymore in the NHL especially players that are lined up with other elite players.

Let’s say he falls to the bruins, and centers Pastrnak eventually. I can absolutely see him hitting 20/40 or 30/30 by the time he’s 23ish. Not unrealistic at all
I agree that it's not an unrealistic projection for Frondell, I just think it's an unrealistic floor. Maybe it's a semantics thing. For me, a player's floor is what kind of player he'll be if he doesn't make significant improvements to his game in the coming years. And that happens more often than you'd think; I think the floor of most prospects is way lower than people like to think. Prospects don't just automatically get stronger, faster, better every year. There's plenty of prospects who were labeled as "safe" NHLers and never made it.

Celebrini is the kind of player who had a 60 pt floor, which he proved by stepping into the NHL and being a 60+ pt player right off the bat. I don't think Frondell is the same kind of prospect. He could probably make the NHL next year (whether he will or should is a different question). But he definitely has things to work on if he wants to be a top-6 NHLer, let alone a top-6 center. His skating, his decision-making, his transition game...
Btw, while he’s certainly more physically developed than pasta was at that age, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still have room to grow

Plenty of fast twitch muscles to develope, what happens to players when they get access to NHL rinks, equipment, trainers, medical staff?
You're right, he'll definitely get stronger. He's apparently a gym rat, and a farm boy to boot. That said, there's a limit to how much muscle you can effectively pack within an NHL-average frame like Frondell's. I think it's an advantage he has over his competition that'll probably shrink over time, even if it doesn't disappear. That's why I'm wondering about his ceiling. I look at his linemate Eklund, who's just as effective in the Allsvenskan despite being 30 lbs lighter, and I think he'll benefit even more from NHL trainers and equipment than Frondell will.

Honestly I'm not really down on Frondell. But every prospect has a different development curve, and I wonder if he isn't a bit farther along physically than the other kids.
 
Game 7 today at 12pm EDT. He’s had a good series regardless, even with the early hiccup in Game 5 (which wasn’t entirely his fault).
 
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I think this is a good take but I do think 60 is a good estimate on his floor during his prime. 60 points isn’t that hard to reach for players anymore in the NHL especially players that are lined up with other elite players.

Let’s say he falls to the bruins, and centers Pastrnak eventually. I can absolutely see him hitting 20/40 or 30/30 by the time he’s 23ish. Not unrealistic at all

Btw, while he’s certainly more physically developed than pasta was at that age, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still have room to grow

Plenty of fast twitch muscles to develope, what happens to players when they get access to NHL rinks, equipment, trainers, medical staff?


Anyways I want Misa so 😂

60-70 points is his ceiling, not his floor.

I like Frondell but I don’t think he’s going to be a dynamic scoring center. His skating concerns me a bit too.

I see a good 2C.
 
Frondell > Martone for me so far.

I’ve thought about this a lot recently. I think Martone has a higher ceiling, but I think Frondell is safer and plays the premium position. I think it comes down to the team picking.

As a Chicago fan, at 3/4 I’d probably lean upside and pick Martone. But I’d be fine with either.
 
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Frondell may be more developed and ready for the nhl, but Eklund appears to be more of a driver of play in the clips I’ve watched. Eklund has so much more developmental runway left that I might actually prefer him to Frondell.
 
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Frondell may be more developed and ready for the nhl, but Eklund appears to be more of a driver of play in the clips I’ve watched. Eklund has so much more developmental runway left that I might actually prefer him to Frondell.

For me that’s like prefering Viktor Arvidsson over Filip Forsberg. I like Frondells upside way more. I would definitely not say he’s come further in his development compared to Eklund.
 
For me that’s like prefering Viktor Arvidsson over Filip Forsberg. I like Frondells upside way more. I would definitely not say he’s come further in his development compared to Eklund.
That may be true, but physically, it’s unarguable that eklund has more room to grow than Frondell. I suppose my thinking was that if Eklund can thrive in allsvenskan at 160 lbs then he could be a totally different level of player at 185-190. For Frondell, he is already pretty filled out and maybe has 10-15 lbs left in him?
 
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I think this is the guy pens target at #7-8. NHL ready is important to Dubas due to the age of the core.
 
Someone on our forum mentioned that Scott Powers name dropped Misa and Frondell as guys the Hawks are looking at. If this is true, its likely the Hawks grab one of them 2-4 (if they are there). Powers is a very reliable source
 
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