It's the Adam Fantilli era now.

Outlook

Last season:
25-48-9, 8th Metro, 31st overall.
2.60 GF/GP (30th), 4.01 GA/GP (31st), 18.3 PP% (26th), 75.1 PK% (25th)
44.92 5v5 CF% (30th), 38.24 5v5 GF% (32nd), 44.13 5v5 xGF% (29th)

The bad news: The Blue Jackets were really bad last season with six losing streaks of at least four games.

The good news: They drafted Adam Fantilli.

Even after another flurry of aggressive moves by GM Jarmo Kekalainen, the Jackets still aren’t expected to make the playoffs in the killer Metro, having missed the playoffs by 33 points and posting a conference-worst minus-116 goal differential. It’s still lacking in top-end talent; Johnny Gaudreau the only player ranked in the top 50, and Patrik Laine only makes it if he can stay healthy.

Fantilli, the third overall pick in the 2023 draft and the consensus runner-up to Connor Bedard for the Calder, is the Jackets’ third-ranked forward in the fantasy rankings. That gives you a pretty good sense of how few options the Jackets provide in fantasy. There’s talent – Kent Johnson, Yegor Chinakhov and Kirill Marchenko among them – but none of them have the same upside as Fantilli, and they’re still at least a couple seasons away from being regular top-six forwards, if at all.

They shouldn’t even be considered sleepers because the ceiling just isn’t very high at the moment, but rather late-round fliers only in the deepest of leagues. Other than a top line that stays intact with Gaudreau and Laine and the underrated Boone Jenner, and Fantilli as the No. 2 center, the entire Jackets lineup is in flux. The projected lineup does not include Emil Bemstrom, Liam Foudy or Alex Texier, all of whom have played a significant number of games with the Jackets in previous seasons.

Even the blueline is crowded with Erik Gudbranson, Nick Blankenburg and Tim Berni left out of the projected lineup. The only sure thing is Zach Werenski, who should be a great value pick in the middle rounds as their undisputed top defender and top power-play quarterback. Ivan Provorov has to rebuild a lot of goodwill that was lost in his final seasons with the Flyers, and there may also not be enough minutes to go around for Jake Bean and Adam Boqvist to make much of an impact in fantasy.

Projected Lineup

Johnny Gaudreau – Boone Jenner – Patrik Laine
Kent Johnson – Adam Fantilli – Jack Roslovic
Yegor Chinakhov – Cole Sillinger – Kirill Marchenko
Eric Robinson – Sean Kuraly – Mathieu Olivier

Zach Werenski – Andrew Peeke
Ivan Provorov – Damon Severson
Jake Bean – Adam Boqvist

Elvis Merzlikins – Daniil Tarasov

PP1
Gaudreau – Jenner – Laine – Fantilli – Werenski
PP2
Johnson – Roslovic – Chinakhov – Marchenko – Boqvist

Player Rankings

The Hockey News Fantasy Guide Top 3 Point Projections:
Johnny Gaudreau, 80 points
Patrik Laine, 65 points
Adam Fantilli, 56 points

(Point projections for all players are available in The Hockey News NHL Fantasy Guide 2023-24. Get the Fantasy Guide for FREE when you subscribe today.)

Top 300 Ranked Blue Jackets (Full List, including individual player write-ups):
35. Johnny Gaudreau, LW
72. Patrik Laine, LW
142. Adam Fantilli, C
161. Zach Werenski, D
195. Boone Jenner, C
199. Elvis Merzlikins, G
223. Kent Johnson, C
250. Kirill Marchenko, RW
264. Jack Roslovic, C

Top 300 Ranked Blue Jackets (Banger League) (Full List):
50. Johnny Gaudreau, LW
98. Patrik Laine, LW
129. Boone Jenner, C
138. Adam Fantilli, C
149. Zach Werenski, D
283. Kent Johnson, C
291. Elvis Merzlikins, G
293. Kirill Marchenko, RW

All positions courtesy Yahoo Fantasy.

Breakout Star

Of course, it’s Adam Fantilli. He’s projected to finish third in team scoring according to the Fantasy Guide and he’s the third-ranked forward in my rankings. He has much more upside than Jenner, and he’ll also get more playing time than all the other young players because Fantilli fills a much bigger need, not to mention he’s already the superior player.

What can we expect other than goals and points? Fantilli’s a big, strong center, but the learning curve is steep. He’s ranked behind Jenner in the banger league rankings because Jenner has great multi-category coverage and he’s super reliable. But if Fantilli can score 25-plus goals and get close to 100 hits, that’s going to give him a lot of value in banger leagues, too, and in both re-draft and keeper leagues. He’s the most exciting prospect the Jackets have ever had since Rick Nash, who at his peak was a 40-40, 100-hit threat, and I daresay Fantilli’s ceiling is likely higher than that.

Regression Candidate

It’s hard to regress when almost everybody underachieved, but I do think the Jackets should start looking at a future without Jack Roslovic. The hometown kid is entering his sixth full NHL season and he’s just shown middling potential as a top-six forward – and I say forward because he’s no more competent at center or as a right winger. His ceiling is 50 points – at best – since he doesn’t shoot the puck much and lacks premier playmaking ability. The roster is crowded and Roslovic will turn 27 in January; there’s just not a lot of runway for him to significantly improve.

Goalies

There were times when Elvis Merzlikins looked good, but he’d be a 1B option at best on any other team, and he’s already 29 years old. What we see now is probably as good as Merzlikins will ever be. He can rack up the saves and that’s about it; keep in mind the younger and more promising Daniil Tarasov is the backup, and he’s going to push for enough playing time that it might end up being a 50-50 split. Merzlikins and Tarasov are only streaming options in the right matchup, however few there are.