Best friends Eklund, Frondell team up at NHL Scouting Combine

BUFFALO -- Hardly a day goes by when Sweden-born teammates Victor Eklund and Anton Frondell aren't seen together on or off the ice.

It even happened during the testing phase at the 2025 NHL Scouting Combine presented by Fanatics at LECOM Harborcenter on Saturday.

"We asked to do the testing together as a pair," Frondell said, "because we love to compete against each other and felt like if we go together, it would probably give us both our high scores. We were competing."

Frondell (6-1, 204), an 18-year-old center, is projected to be chosen among the top five in the 2025 Upper Deck NHL Draft to be held at L.A. Live's Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on June 27-28. He and Eklund (5-11, 169), an 18-year-old forward, were linemates with Djurgarden of Sweden's second division for much of this season and formed great chemistry.

"It's just great ... it's like pushing a weight off your shoulders to have someone with you that sits in the same boat as you," Eklund said. "It meant everything to be going through the testing with him because we're best friends. We even hang out together off the ice."

Eklund got the best of Frondell in total pullups (11-9), but the latter did exceptionally well on the bike tests. He lasted 14:00 in the VO2 Max bike test on Friday, which measures endurance. Frondell held an advantage in peak power output (16.8) on the Wingate cycle ergometer bike to measure the explosiveness of a skater.

"I did more pullups than him but he definitely did better on the bikes and we kept changing whoever went first so that we had some kind of carrot to look for," Eklund said. "It felt like he screamed for an hour on the Wingate ... that was a tough one."

Sweden has been well represented in the first round of the NHL Draft, but a 13-year run with at least one player chosen in the opening round ended last year when the earliest pick was forward Lucas Pettersson to the Anaheim Ducks in the second round (No. 35).

The wait isn’t expected to be long on June 27, with Frondell and Eklund, each from Stockholm, ranked Nos. 1 and 2 on NHL Central Scouting's final ranking of International skaters eligible for the 2025 draft.

Frondell averaged nearly a point per game (25 points; 11 goals, 14 assists) in 29 games to finish with the second-most points ever by a player aged 17 or younger in Sweden's second division (behind William Nylander in 2013-14).

Eklund, the brother of San Jose Sharks forward William Eklund, who was selected No. 7 in the 2021 NHL Draft, had 31 points (19 goals, 12 assists) in 42 games to finish with the most points in Allsvenskan by a player aged 18 or younger since Elias Pettersson in 2016-17.

"Before we became teammates we actually played against each other when we were young," Eklund said. "He played for Farsta and I played for Haninge Anchors HC, so we were like 10 years old. I remember playing him and he actually made a move on me, like the puck between my legs, and I just can't forget that.

"We really got to know each other when both of us started playing for Djurgarden."

Eklund knows the probability he and Frondell will be drafted by the same NHL team is slim.

"I know and I don't want to hear that," he said with a grin. "I mean, it'll be just fine though. We'll have to play against each other, and it'll be just as fun."

Frondell said he looks forward to that challenge and one other when asked what NHL record he would want to add to his resume by the time he retires as a player.

"Is there a record for most Stanley Cup wins?" he asked. "Probably that. All that matters is if you win or not. I hate to lose. I love to win. If you have a good season and you don't reach the goal, then it's not completed.

"The goal is what matters for me and for the team."