If there’s one player in the 2025 NHL Draft who could eventually spur pangs of regret from the clubs who left him on the board, it might just be Anton Frondell.
The 18-year-old Swede is the type of prospect who tests scouting staffs — exceptional, maybe elite, but not quite a sure thing, leaving teams to decide how early is too early to roll the dice. There’s no question the young centreman has promise. Frondell boasts raw-but-impressive skill, big-league size, and no shortage of confidence. But he’s also shown a history of putting all those tools together inconsistently.
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For the clubs drafting early in the first round, the question is whether they believe in Frondell’s potential enough to wave away those quiet stretches, whether they think the glimpses of high-end promise he’s shown are enough to take a swing. Some prognosticators believe Frondell will fall to the lower end of the draft’s top 10. Others believe he could go as high as second overall.
Either way, it’s fitting that he’ll likely be among the first to hear his name called on Draft day. Just ask those who’ve been out on the sheet with him.
“He’s an amazing player,” Viktor Klingsell, who played alongside Frondell at the U-18 World Championship in May, told Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon at the Draft Combine. “He’s for sure got every tool in his game. He’s got the size, he’s got the puck control, he’s got the off-ice skills.
“He’s for sure going to be a star in the NHL one day.”
Team: Djurgårdens IF
Position: Centre
Shoots: Left
Hometown: Trångsund, Sweden
Age: 18 (May 7, 2007)
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 205 pounds
WHAT THE SCOUTS ARE SAYING
One thing that is clear about Frondell already is the aspect of his skill-set that separates him from the pack.
“In my opinion, he is the most elite pure shooter in the draft class,” Sportsnet’s Jason Bukala — formerly the director of amateur scouting for the Florida Panthers — wrote of Frondell in March. “His skill-set, hockey sense, and pace allow coaches to deploy Frondell at the centre-ice position or on the wing. He’s already strong enough for the pro game.
“Frondell is a difference-maker offensively, and a game-changer who craves having the puck on his stick in big moments.”
The young pivot’s elite shot has Bukala believing Frondell could hear his name called as early as No. 2 on draft day, the long-time scout calling the Swede’s potential as a top-line NHL centre or winger “undeniable.”
The knock against Frondell, though, is his consistency. While the Trångsund native produced well in the Swedish league this season — his 25 points in 29 games for Djurgårdens IF putting him in line with the likes of David Pastrnak and William Nylander in terms of their production in Sweden at a similar age — his performances on the international stage left much to be desired.
“Depending on who you ask in the NHL, he’s either a future franchise centre or a solid middle-six contributor,” The Athletic’s Corey Pronman wrote of Frondell. “Scouts are split, with some seeing him worthy of a top-three selection, while others view him somewhere between six and 10.”
Those who fall on the more optimistic end of that spectrum view Frondell as having the potential to grow into a Selke-calibre talent, a responsible leader who can bring some elite offence, too. Others wonder if he might go the way of Elias Pettersson, oscillating between dominance and disappointment at the NHL level.
In a mock draft from NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman and Mike Morreale earlier this month, both writers projected Frondell going off the board at No. 3, to Chicago. In mid-May, Sportsnet’s Sam Cosentino projected Frondell going fourth, which would take him to Utah.
HOW A LOVE OF TENNIS HELPED GROW FRONDELL’S NET-FRONT GAME
In discussions of how to best develop as a hockey player, the question of whether to focus on hockey alone in the early formative years or branch out into other sports too, building other skills that can translate to the ice, has become a central one. Most elite NHLers will point to their experiences in baseball or lacrosse or myriad other sports as playing key roles in building out their eventual on-ice skill-sets.
Count Frondell in that similar camp. While the teenager’s built himself into a blue-chip prospect on the ice, and seems on the cusp of a promising NHL career, hockey is far from his only athletic focus.
“I really love racket sports,” he said at the Draft Combine. “All kinds — tennis, squash, badminton, paddle. I haven’t tried pickleball, it’s not a thing in Sweden yet. I will probably bring it over [there].”
Frondell’s father grew up playing tennis, he said, and his love for the court grew from there. But it’s more than just an off-season pastime — that affinity for racket sports has given Frondell an edge on the ice too, in one particularly important area.
“Probably hand-eye coordination,” he said. “I’m good at tipping pucks, and probably that comes from the racket and the ball.”
FRONDELL HOPING TO FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF A FLORIDA GREAT
For a prospect whose potential is so tough to pin down, plenty of import lands on the big-league player comp, the finished-product vision of what a young, raw talent could one day become.
Scouts and analysts have pegged Frondell’s potential as skewing towards a top-tier two-way centre. The 18-year-old himself seems to see it the same way — asked at the combine who he compares himself to at the NHL level, Frondell didn’t hesitate:
“[Aleksander] Barkov, the Florida captain,” the teenager said, matter-of-factly. “Good size, strong, good hockey sense, smart player. Likes to compete. I would say Barkov. I play like him.”
If the young pivot is right, he’d wind up as a clear home run for the team that ends up calling his name on Draft day. Over 12 years in the big leagues, Barkov has established himself as one of the best two-way talents the game has ever seen — claiming the Selke Trophy three times to this point — while still chipping in with high-end offensive production, too.
Most importantly, the Cats captain’s balanced approach has led Florida to three straight Stanley Cup Final appearances, and back-to-back championships. If the young Swede can develop into half the game-changer Barkov’s become, he’d still wind up a big-league star.
Frondell told Sportsnet’s Ryan Dixon that he models his game after the Panthers leader. True to form, when asked which NHL record he’d most like to own by the end of his career, Frondell replied only as a Selke hopeful would:
“Is there a record for most killed penalties?”
