How Blackhawks rookie Anton Frondell keeps friendship alive with Jets' Viggo Bjorck

Almost every day, Blackhawks rookie Anton Frondell, Jets rookie Viggo Bjorck and Islanders rookie Victor Eklund's three-man group chat blows up with messages.

"We three are best friends, so we're texting back and forth," Frondell said Friday. "We give each other energy."

Friday was likely one of the chat's quieter days, however, because Frondell and Bjorck — plus Bjorck's dad — were able to get dinner together in Chicago.

And on Saturday, the chat will be dead, because Frondell and Bjorck will be playing each other at the United Center. The three Swedes' deep friendship gets turned off for about three hours whenever two of them face off.

"We're enemies for the day," Frondell said. "[I] probably won't use that group chat. I'll just try to stay in my focus, my bubble. [But] outside of the ice, we're best buddies. I feel like that's pretty normal, though."

This will mark Frondell and Bjorck's second NHL meeting after years of developing side-by-side — along with Eklund — within the Djurgardens organization in Stockholm. The Hawks won the first matchup Oct. 15.

As long as they both remain in the Central Division, they'll see each other plenty. Frondell already faced Eklund on Oct. 8 in New York, too. The triangle will be completed next Thursday when Eklund's Islanders visit Winnipeg.

For the Jets, that Oct. 15 overtime loss in Chicago began a nine-game losing streak after a 4-1-1 start. Then a dramatic comeback Nov. 3 in Montreal flipped their fortunes again, so they enter Saturday riding a five-game winning streak.

Their upturn has coincided with Bjorck moving from center to wing. That's particularly interesting because the Hawks, by contrast, have been very reluctant to do the same with Frondell.

The Jets picked Bjorck eighth overall in June to address a massive organizational need for centers, but he — perhaps unsurprisingly — struggled to find immediate NHL success at that position.

Through Nov. 3, he had zero points in 16 games, and the Jets had been outscored 9-2 during his five-on-five ice time. Since shifting onto veteran center Adam Lowry's line, he has tallied four assists and been a plus player, albeit in a small sample.

"He's going to end up back in the middle down the road somewhere," Jets coach Scott Arniel said Friday. "But for a young player, 18 years old, he's been really good without the puck."

Frondell, meanwhile, continues to navigate choppy waves as he attempts to play center — and handle matchups against elite opponents like Jets star Mark Scheifele — as a 19-year-old.

He has had some impressive games and moments, and it's easy to follow the Hawks' logic. They want him gaining maximum experience in the Jonathan Toews-type role they foresee him holding long-term.

But considering Frondell has recorded only three points in his last 12 games, and that the Hawks haven't found any well-suited wingers for the first-line role next to Connor Bedard and Roman Kantserov, it's odd they haven't even given that idea a try.

General manager Kyle Davidson said this week they might rethink things if Frondell was getting "steamrolled every night," but they believe he's holding up well enough to forge on.

Frondell himself obviously isn't worrying about his deployment, nor about his inconsistent box-score stats. He said he's proud of his recent hard work to improve at faceoffs and on the penalty kill.

At his apartment, he still hasn't figured out how to watch NHL games on TV — which, to be fair, is no simple task. He hears all important updates through the group chat, though, and it sounds like he has raved about his Chicago experience so far.

"He's told me it's a great city," Bjorck said. "He likes his teammates very much. I'm happy it's going well for him and he's found his way into the team. I'm just happy that he's happy."