NEW YORK — Anton Frondell was playing in the Swedish hockey league playoffs on Saturday and got the call shortly after his team was eliminated that the Chicago Blackhawks want their top prospect to come to North America.
Not eventually. Now.
“I was shocked,” the 18-year-old forward said. “Everything has been going really fast.”
That includes being thrust into the action, making his NHL debut on Tuesday in a 4-3 win at the New York Islanders on Chicago’s top line alongside Connor Bedard and as part of the first power-play unit.
Frondell had an assist in his NHL debut, setting up Ilya Mikheyev at 18:06 of the first period to give Chicago a 2-1 lead.
Nine months after he was taken with the third pick in the…