It took Adam Fantilli holding out for the first week of Blue Jackets training camp, but the team's top young center has agreed to a six-year contract worth $82.5 million ($13.75 million AAV) to finally put negotiations behind him and join his team at Nationwide Arena.
Fantilli, 21, became a restricted free agent without arbitration rights July 1. Had he signed a big offer sheet, like Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson did with the Philadelphia Flyers, the Jackets would’ve been forced to match it or let Fantilli leave for a package of compensatory draft picks.
That didn't happen, allowing Blue Jackets president/general manager Don Waddell to seek a more team friendly cap hit,
but it cost Fantilli valuable preparation time with his teammates prior to opening the season against the Buffalo Sabres on Oct. 1 at Nationwide Arena.
The Ducks weren't as fortunate and swallowed hard before matching the Flyers’ offer sheet that now pays Carlsson at $18 million a season for the next five years. Carlsson was selected second overall in 2023, one pick ahead of where the Blue Jackets got Fantilli, a comparable top young center who’s similar in size, age and stats through their first three seasons.
According to PuckPedia, the Blue Jackets had just under $12.7 million in cap space prior to signing Fantilli. That was counting salaries for 13 active forwards and injured center Isac Lundestrom (Achilles surgery), who'll start the season on injured reserve. Goalie Elvis Merzlikins, who underwent shoulder surgery Aug. 17, may also start the season on IR. If so, additional salary-cap flexibility could be gained by the Blue Jackets placing either Merzlikins or Lundestrom on long-term injured reserve.
Columbus Blue Jackets anchor lineup with Adam Fantilli contract
Fantilli is now the Blue Jackets’ highest-paid player by a wide margin.
He didn't come close to matching Carlsson's new cap hit, but neither did Conner Bedard, the 2023 draft's top pick who re-signed with the Chicago Blackhawks for five years at $15 million per season. Fantilli, whose numbers stack up comparably to his peers, is now in a similar ballpark for salary.
Fantilli has totaled 140 points on 67 goals and 73 assists through 213 games with the Blue Jackets, while Carlsson has give the Ducks 141 points on 61 goals and 80 assists and in 201 games. Bedard tops both with 203 points on 75 goals and 128 assists in 219 games for the Blackhawks, but he's done it while posting a -98 plus/minus for a team that has lagged near the bottom of the NHL's overall standings.
Carlsson, who has a -1 plus/minus, helped the Ducks get back into the playoffs last season while Fantilli (-30) has narrowly missed the postseason the past two years with the Blue Jackets, a team that most analysts didn't consider a playoff contender.
The Blue Jackets’ next highest salary behind Fantilli now belongs to Zach Werenski, who was awarded the Norris Trophy last season as the NHL's top defenseman. Werenski has two years left on a contract that carries a $9.58 million cap charge, and there remains uncertainty about his long-term future in Columbus. There's now a question mark about whether Werenski will be named the Blue Jackets' next captain, a role vacated by Boone Jenner signing with the Washington Capitals.
Waddell even signed off on trading him to the Dallas Stars for two young NHL players, including defenseman Thomas Harley, but Werenski nixed it. Werenski and Waddell issued statements July 1 to quiet rampant trade speculations, saying the Jackets’ top defenseman wanted to stay, but neither stated how long that might be.
Could a new Werenski trade create cap room in the wake of Fantilli’s new deal? Can the Blue Jackets even afford to re-sign Werenski, whose next contract might net him close to $20 million a year?
The NHL’s cap allows teams to exceed its highest limit by 10% in the offseason, which means the Blue Jackets could go up to $10.4 million over the $104 million ceiling for 2026-27, but they must to become compliant before the regular season.
Moving Werenski could be one option, but it sounds like the plan is for him to play at least one more season with the Blue Jackets, but others with significant cap charges and no trade protections include forward Kirill Marchenko ($3.85 million), forward Dmitri Voronkov ($4.175 million) and defenseman Dante Fabbro ($4.125 million).
Voronkov and Fabbro don’t provide as much trade value as Marchenko, who has led the Blue Jackets in goals the past two years and became the subject of trade speculation in late June, when an ESPN report stated that he’ll likely test the open market in two years.
As for Fantilli, the Blue Jackets see him as an elite young center who’ll keep improving over the course of this contract. Those type of players are almost always drafted and rarely traded or signed as free agents, which boosts their value quickly.
The NHL’s best teams typically follow the same roster construct, starting with goaltending and defense before shifting to center ice. The Blue Jackets are doing well in those areas, especially after locking up a top young center to front a forward group that includes Sean Monahan, Charlie Coyle, Lundestrom and Cole Sillinger as center options.
Dispatch Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets re-sign Adam Fantilli
