The Columbus Blue Jackets Best Active Homegrown Player: Brought to You By Upper Deck
There hasn't been a single Columbus Blue Jackets draft pick that came in with more fanfare and expectations than 19-year-old Adam Fantilli, which is why the youngster is The Hockey News' pick for the Blue Jackets Best Active Homegrown Player: Brought to You By Upper Deck.
The Columbus Blue Jackets chose Adam Fantilli with the number three overall pick in the 2023 draft. To many experts, the Blue Jackets had their future number-one player, top center, and future face of the franchise all-in-one. Fantilli fell to Columbus after the Anaheim Ducks chose Leo Carlsson. The City of Columbus erupted on draft night.
He would make his NHL debut just a few months later against the Philadelphia Flyers, which happened to be his 19th birthday. In that game, he took 17 shifts, played 13:40, and had an assist to record his first career point. The Adam Fantilli era was underway.
Just four games later Fantilli would score his first career goal against the Minnesota Wild. The next game, against the Anaheim Ducks at home, he recorded his first multi-point game when he had a goal and an assist. The Adam Fantilli Experience was starting to gain some momentum
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In mid-November, Fantilli had his first three-game point streak. In a three-game span, he had 2 goals and 5 points with 5 shots. In a game against the Arizona Coyotes on November 16th, he was held pointless but had a whopping 10 shots on goal.
In late December, Fantilli recorded his first four-game point streak. In those four games, he had 2 goals and 4 points. Those four games were against the Toronto Maple Leafs twice, the New Jersey Devils, and the Buffalo Sabres.
After playing in 48 games, the 49th game came against the Seattle Kraken on January 28th in Seattle. After playing just 9 shifts and 7:30 of ice time, the worst would happen. After making what seemed to be a routine play, Fantilli would have his calf stepped on by the Kraken's Jared McCann. He would hobble back to the bench and leave the ice. That would be the last time the Columbus Blue Jackets would see their star rookie play last season. Fantilli was put on IR and was expected to miss 8 weeks. He would not return for the rest of the season.
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Adam Fantilli, despite missing the final 33 games had a stellar year for the CBJ. In 49 games played, he had 12 goals and 27 points. His 27 points were 11th on the team, even with missing 33 games. He had 115 shots on the season which was 7th on the team. At one point, he was even leading the team in shots after the first two months of the season. His faceoff % was low, at 43.6%. But as a rookie, that's expected and will surely get better. Unfortunately for Fantilli, he was sheltered a little bit by coaching, only averaging 15:43 of ice time. On a bad team, having a bad year, he probably should've been on the ice a few more minutes a game.
So why is he the face of the franchise? Simply put, Adam Fantilli has "It." He's well-spoken, he's a grinder on the ice, and he wanted to play for the Columbus Blue Jackets. The fact that he said weeks before the draft that he wanted to play for Columbus, instantly made him the face of the team before he had even stepped foot in Nationwide Arena for the first time. Oh, and he happens to be good at his job. Even at 19, you can tell Adam is the future of this franchise, and when it's all said and done, could very well be the greatest player to ever wear Union and Blue. Are those lofty expectations? Sure, but something says he's up to the challenge.
There is no doubt in anyone's mind that Adam Fantilli is a budding star. Sure, other homegrown players on the Jackets have had good careers, especially Zach Werenski and Boone Jenner. But none, have the star potential that Adam Fantilli has. And that's the reason why he was chosen as being the best active homegrown player for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
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