Fantilli happy to be back on the ice in year two

Adam Fantilli admits he wasn’t the easiest person to be around last winter and spring.

He was living out his dream as an NHL rookie – and having plenty of success – all the way until late January, when a freak accident ended his season. Fantilli suffered a skate cut when a Seattle player accidentally caught the back of his leg, and for the first time ever as a hockey player, the Blue Jackets center was on the shelf for an extended period of time as the laceration healed.

“A lot of people were dealing with me being maybe a little bit irritable, missing being on the ice, missing being around the guys,” he said during training camp this fall. “I want to say thank you to all of them and I’m sorry for what they had to deal with. I definitely wanted to pull my hair out.”

Fast-forward a few months from those comments and there’s no discontent coming from Fantilli. The 20-year-old has played in every game so far this year, and there’s no one more excited for him to be back on the ice than Fantilli himself.

“Every single game, I thank God for letting me come back and do what I love,” Fantilli said. “Coming back and playing, it makes you appreciate it a lot more. It makes you want to have a lot more fun doing it.”

Since he’s been back, the results have been mixed so far on the score sheet, but that's also led to an opportunity for growth.

In 18 games this season, the 2023 first-round draft pick has three goals and six assists for nine points, hurt in part by a shooting percentage of 7.3 that would suggest he’s been a bit snakebitten. His average ice time per game (16:52) and faceoff percentage (45.5) are both up from a season ago, and head coach Dean Evason said he has already gained respect for Fantilli’s work ethic and attention to detail.

“He wants to be an all-around player,” Evason said. “He wants to be taught. He needs to continually work at the other end of the ice because he’s gifted on the offensive end, but is he committed? Yeah. Is he getting better? Yeah. For sure.”

Given his druthers, Fantilli would rather have had more impact on the score sheet, but he also displays a maturity beyond his years when it comes to handling it. There hasn’t been any visible frustration from the young center, who has been encouraged by how well his overall game is developing.

“It’s tough when you put in a good effort and you don’t have anything to show for it,” Fantilli said. “But that’s hockey. The other team gets paid, too, to stop you. You just have to keep going. There are a lot of guys in this room that have that understanding. As a young guy, you want to be able to produce and sometimes you can’t. Sometimes you try and it just doesn’t go, and you have to be OK with that.”

There are some signs things are coming around, including last night’s game in Boston where Fantilli had an assist and probably could have had a second. He didn’t get a helper on Mathieu Olivier’s first-period goal, but he did play an integral part in the play by keeping it alive at center ice, touching up to avoid being offside and then providing a passing outlet that distracted the defense and allowed Olivier to get to the net and score.

Later in the opening period, Fantilli sent a beautiful cross-ice saucer pass over the stick of a Bruins defender to the oncoming Zach Werenski, whose ensuing shot deflected off James van Riemsdyk and went into the net for the Jackets’ third goal.

And if there were any frustration seeping into Fantilli’s game, he has the right sounding boards around him to help him deal with it. The veteran CBJ players have been in his ear with messages of staying the course, and Fantilli hasn’t been shy about picking the brains of the elder statesmen for advice on his game and being a pro.

“They’re all good dudes,” Fantilli said. “They’re fun to be around. (Sean Monahan) might be one of the funniest guys I’ve ever met. Whenever I can hang around those guys, I do. They have a great perspective on a lot of things, and they’re fun to hang out with. We have a great group of veteran guys. I’m very grateful for a lot of the stuff they’ve done for me since I got here.”

Fantilli spent much of the summer working out with Werenski in Michigan – they're both Wolverines, after all – and the two have forged a relationship that has helped the youngster acclimate even further to the NHL.

“It was great being around him,” Werenski said. “I felt like I could push him a little bit. I wish I had someone when I was that age back home with me in the summer that was an older guy to push me and be there for me.

“I just tried to help him along – not that he needs help, but just to be there for him, someone he could bounce ideas off of or questions. I think our relationship got really good this summer. It’s been awesome seeing him work.”

So far, it’s also fair to say Evason is a fan. The two first met this spring when Fantilli was in contention to join Team Canada – where Evason was an assistant coach – for the World Championships. Now that Evason gets to coach Fantilli on a regular basis, he’s started to understand his commitment both on the ice and off of it.

“I just got a really small sample of him there, but I didn’t realize the big picture of his game,” Evason said. “Obviously there’s a skill set there offensively, but his competitiveness is as high as I’ve seen (in) a skilled guy like that. He competes hard. He has bite to his game. Sure, does he have some deficiencies in the defensive zone, like every young player does? No question. But his commitment to learn and get better has been fantastic.”