Year 1: Inside Adam Fantilli’s rollercoaster rookie season in Columbus

Credit: Nov 26, 2023; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli (11) comes off the ice after the warmups before the game against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

One year ago, Adam Fantilli was in a state of euphoria, wrapping up a year in which he won almost everything an 18-year-old could win. He’d completed arguably the best freshman season in NCAA history, capturing the Hobey Baker Award. He’d won gold with Canada at the World Junior Championship and the World Championship. With his blend of speed, skill, size and competitiveness, he was a shoo-in early first-round pick for the 2023 NHL Draft. And when the Columbus Jackets nabbed him at No. 3, it was a joyous moment. That night, he showed off a custom-made suit jacket lined with the names of almost 150 people who’d helped him get there.

But little did he know, what would follow in Year 1 of his NHL career would be one body blow after another, some literal and some not, with few things going the way he hoped, rendering him a passenger more than a driver in Columbus. The 2023-24 season was a bucket of cold water to the face – something Fantilli acknowledges with quite a bit of humility almost a year since he was drafted.

First, there was the early distraction of the Mike Babcock situation. He was already a controversial head coaching hire given the many documented accusations of him mentally abusing players during his storied career, and he didn’t even make it to the beginning of the regular season before getting into more trouble. After reports surfaced of him demanding players show him the photos in their phones, he resigned in mid-September. While Fantilli was playing in the Traverse City prospects tournament when most of it went down, he admits the dynamic of training camp did shift when the team suddenly had to transition from Babcock to Pascal Vincent.

And when Fantilli did get into his first NHL game action, the learning curve was razor sharp.

“I remember pre-season ramping up quite rapidly,” Fantilli told Daily Faceoff. “The first game I was like, “Wow, this isn’t what I expected. I can do this, this is good. This should be fun.’ And it started getting more and more competitive as we got closer to the season. By the last game, I could tell it was going to be a lot harder than I had expected off that first game.”

Then came the big reality check, pun intended, in Columbus’ final pre-season game Oct. 7:

“I got rocked by T.J. Oshie.”

He sure did. His stick helicoptered into the air after the monster hit from the Washington Capitals veteran. Despite his prodigious talents, Fantilli understood then that The Show was going to be a big step up.

Five weeks later came the biggest out-of-body experience of his rookie campaign: lining up for a faceoff against the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby.

“I didn’t really feel too starstruck at all throughout the season playing against all of those superstars, but when I was taking the faceoff against him, I just kind of had to take a second and look across the dot and see if was taking a faceoff against him,” Fantilli said. “That was pretty sick. He smoked me. I only got one faceoff against him.”

Fantilli did start to find a groove and settle in as an NHLer, particularly in December, when he racked up seven goals and 13 points in 14 games, hinting at his superstar ceiling. Among the 12 forwards who played at least 500 minutes at 5-on-5 this season for Columbus, Fantilli led them in shots, shot attempts and rebounds created per 60 minutes while also ranking near the top at generating scoring chances. But his season ended Jan. 28 when he suffered a calf laceration from Seattle Kraken center Jared McCann‘s skate in a fluke collision.

Just when it felt like Fantilli was building some real momentum in his rookie campaign – “really playing hockey,” he said – it was over after 49 games.

Fantilli’s roommate and most cherished mentor on the team, who took him to dinners and answered all his questions about being a pro, was Patrik Laine. He entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program on the same day Fantilli got hurt. A few weeks after that, Fantilli also bid farewell to the GM who drafted him as Jarmo Kekalainen was fired. It was supposed to be a season of optimism in Columbus, buoyed by Fantilli and big-ticket blueline acquisitions Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson. Instead, the Blue Jackets continued to fall on their faces, experiencing one setback, humiliation or turn of bad luck after another.

It wasn’t how Fantilli or his team drew it up for 2023-24, that’s for sure. But that doesn’t mean it was a wasted year. Seemingly energized for next season already, Fantilli, 19, feels like he learned so much. He understands what he has to improve in his game if he wants to become a true driver of play next season.

“It’s such an opportunistic league where people can score in a lot of awkward situations,” he said. “So, just being better defensively and being as sound as I can, being more explosive, being faster, being a little bit more dynamic to the zone and the neutral zone.”

The good news about the skate cut injury, while scary, is that it isn’t expected to cause any lingering complications for him going forward. He’s determined to train full tilt – as he typically does alongside teammate and fellow Michigan University alumnus Zach Werenski – in Michigan. That will be the plan for July and August.

But first: family time. Fantilli comes from a large Italian family with whom he’s extremely close, especially brother and current Michigan Wolverines blueliner Luca. Since the season ended, Adam spent his most time with them since before the COVID-19 pandemic, he says. And before diving headfirst into training, it’s time to visit the mother land. The Fantillis are off to Italy this month for an epic family trip.

Adam will be a passenger on that voyage, and he may have felt like one for extended periods during a rookie campaign full of tribulations. But don’t expect that to continue. If there’s one thing Fantilli has shown at virtually every level during his hockey upbringing, dating back to his time in his hometown Greater Toronto Hockey League: it’s that he’s the one who drags his teammates into the fight. He showed flashes of that ability at the NHL level this past season, and he’s determined to do so consistently next year.

“Sitting on your couch and watching the playoffs, it’s cool to watch, but it also sucks to know that you could be there,” he said. “You’ve just got to win more hockey games. You’ve got to pull out some of those third periods that we didn’t really have this year. I’m hoping everybody comes in with a chip on their shoulder and has something to prove next season.”

_____

POST SPONSORED BY bet365

_____

Year 1: Inside Adam Fantilli’s rollercoaster rookie season in Columbus

Recently by Matt Larkin