Top NHL Draft prospect Adam Fantilli expected to play for Canada at World Championship

According to a report from Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek, Adam Fantilli – projected to go No. 2 at the 2023 NHL Draft – will represent Canada at the upcoming men’s World Hockey Championship in Finland and Latvia.

This will be Fantilli’s first experience with the men’s national team, a group that’s looking to win gold for the second time in three years.

Fantilli, 18, recently won the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in NCAA collegiate men’s hockey. The center had 30 goals and 65 points in 36 games as a freshman at Michigan, but fell short of making it to the national title game.

Expect draft prospect Adam Fantilli to play for Team Canada at the World Hockey Championships.

— Jeff Marek (@JeffMarek) April 23, 2023

Fantilli has plenty of experience with Hockey Canada despite spending his past four seasons playing south of the border. Born in Toronto, Ontario, Fantilli won bronze with Canada at the Youth Olympic Games in 2020. Fantill then was one of Canada’s best players at the 2022 U-18 World Hockey Championship, but failed to win a medal. Most recently, Fantilli helped Canada win gold in a depth-scoring role at the 2023 World Junior Championship,

Ranked second in Daily Faceoff’s most recent NHL Draft list, Fantilli’s mix of speed, skill and size has made him one of the most intriguing prospects in the game today. Connor Bedard, projected by just about everyone to go first overall, will not join Canada at the World Championship.

It’s not uncommon for prospects to play at this tournament. Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine, Kaapo Kakko, Jack Hughes, Simon Nemec and Juraj Slafkovsky are a few in recent years that have had an impact against men before getting drafted. In Fantilli’s case, he played around 40 games this season, and must feel like he has more to offer.

The Canadians will open the tournament up on May 12 against the hosts from Latvia before taking on Slovenia, Slovakia, Kazakhstan, Switzerland, Norway and Czechia in the preliminary round. The championship game will take place May 28.