Frondell’s Firsts, Kruger, Levshunov’s Season Over, Toews Talks Troy, And Other Blackhawks Bullets

Welcome “home,” Anton Frondell! His first game at the United Center had a little bit of everything. He scored his first career NHL goal, which was awesome. He also got beat for a goal in regulation and then lost his man on the overtime game-winner. As far as learning curves go, last night had a little bit of it all.

And yes, Frondell changed numbers from 15 to 16 before his first home game. I’m sure those 15 sweaters that have already been purchased become collector’s items. Frondell told us after the game that Marcus Kruger was a great mentor for him in Sweden the last two years and he wanted to pay tribute to him, but couldn’t make the number change until he got home to Chicago.

Here’s Frondell shouting out his now-former teammate in Sweden — and former No. 16 for the Blackhawks — during the first intermission chat with Darren Pang.

s/o Krüger pic.twitter.com/JTnglqN8cw

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) April 1, 2026

• Frondell (18 years, 328 days) became the fifth youngest Swedish player in NHL history at the time of his first career goal behind Rasmus Dahlin (18 years, 183 days on Oct. 13, 2018), Leo Carlsson (18, years, 297 days on Oct. 19, 2023), Elias Lindholm (18 years, 312 days on Oct. 10, 2013) and Gabriel Landeskog (18 years, 323 days on Oct. 12, 2011).

• Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill said after the morning skate yesterday that Andrew Mangiapane might join the team on the western trip this week, but Artyom Levshunov and Matt Grzelcyk are done for the rest of the regular season.

• After the morning skate, Jonathan Toews was asked about Troy Murray’s passing.

"He wore No. 19, he played at North Dakota, played for the Jets as well. It's just cool in a lot of ways to follow in his footsteps and honor him. He meant a lot to me over my career."

Jonathan Toews honors Troy Murray and reflects on the impact he had on his career: pic.twitter.com/OuB3WtbJ0j

— Blackhawks on CHSN (@CHSN_Blackhawks) March 31, 2026

• A good story here on the Blackhawks’ fight club practice on Monday from Ben Pope.

• In the OHL playoffs last night, Windsor got an early start at Guelph. AJ Spellacy had an assist on the Spitfires’ first goal of the night in a 2-1 win.

• Brantford needed more than 60 minutes to beat Sudbury 6-5. And they needed two clutch goals from Marek Vanacker — one to give Brantford the lead inside the final four minutes in regulation (that didn’t hold) and then the overtime game-winner. He also had an assist for a three-point night. Here’s the game-winner.

VAN CALLED GAME #BFD https://t.co/olPasYBFbV pic.twitter.com/a9vFjexjWp

— Brantford Bulldogs (@BulldogsOHL) April 1, 2026

• USA Hockey recently named Downers Grove’s own Don Granato the coach for the upcoming men’s World Championship. He was on the guest list in the press box last night. There were a handful of players on both teams who could be in the mix for that team.

• I’m always looking for NHL draft content. And… how about we start talking about next year’s draft class? Since the Blackhawks might have three picks in the first round of next year’s NHL draft (with Florida’s sliding to next year and Edmonton’s), the interest in next year’s draft is going to be high. Scott Wheeler at The Athletic already dropped some 2027 NHL Draft rankings for us!

at @TheAthletic: My first #2027NHLDraft ranking:
– Top 25
– Honorable mentions
– Tiers and more

All packaged in our sortable user interface:https://t.co/dAxwqKBJMu pic.twitter.com/bZZjYOiNyl

— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) March 31, 2026

• Smart teams do smart things. On the same day Maple Leafs brass was holding a press conference talking about disappointment, the Dallas Stars announced a two-year extension for general manager Jim Nill.

• Finally, we got a GOALIE FIGHT last night!

WE GOT ANOTHER GOALIE FIGHT THIS TIME SHESTERKIN VS MARKSTROM pic.twitter.com/CqkWXkVPpy

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 1, 2026

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• One non-hockey note this morning. I’m incredibly proud of the middle one for making his first high school start on the bump in Florida yesterday and absolutely shoving.

It was the day of the Bobby’s, as Robert Sansone ‘26 and Bobby Bamford ‘29 led the charge in our Varsity and Var2 games!

Bamford went 5 strong, while Sansone covered 4 scoreless with strong performances from the offense in both games.

2 more tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/WDld01zfwT

— Montini Catholic Baseball (@montinibaseball) April 1, 2026