Blue Jackets believe No. 3 overall pick Adam Fantilli can turn pro for 2023-24 season

NASHVILLE – The 2023 NHL Draft didn’t really start with the first overall pick on Wednesday night. That was preordained to be Connor Bedard. The suspense was nonexistent when the Chicago Blackhawks took the podium.

But everything changed at pick No. 2, when the Anaheim Ducks dropped a bomb. Confirming an idea that started with a whisper in NHL Draft expert circles in the hours leading up to pick, the Ducks zagged by taking Leo Carlsson.

Zagged? Yes. It was an unexpected choice when center Adam Fantilli, who just won the Hockey Baker Award with arguably the greatest freshman season in modern NCAA Div. I history, was sitting there available at No. 2, a player so talented that many scouts suggest he would’ve been the No. 1 overall pick in the previous couple of drafts.

Carlsson, a potentially dominant franchise center in his own right, was a deserving No. 2 pick. But make no mistake: Fantilli fell. He was entrenched in his own tier as the projected No. 2 selection for the better part of this season. Slipping even a single spot qualified as a moderate surprise at the very least. Not that Fantilli was expressing any dismay in the minutes and hours after the Columbus Blue Jackets snagged him.

Columbus was no consolation prize for Fantilli. As he revealed Wednesday, it was his preferred destination. Not only is it much closer to his hometown of Nobleton, Ontario, but the Blue Jackets are loaded with alumni from his school, the University of Michigan, from Zach Werenski to Kent Johnson. And he’s impressed with the talent that’ll be surrounding him.

“They’ve got amazing guys like Johnny Gaudreau, Patrik Laine and Zach Werenski, all types of guys that have been around the league and then guys who are just starting out,” Fantilli said. “It’s going to be so special and it’s going to mean a lot to me to get into the locker room and meet those guys and learn from them as much as possible.”

Development camp is just days away, sure. But when will we see Fantilli in meaningful game action with the likes of Gaudreau and Laine? Fantilli admitted Wednesday night that he’s still undecided on whether to play another season at Michigan.

“Development camp’s next week and we’ll talk to the staff there and talk to the people around me with my agency and we’ll see what the plan is,” Fantilli said.

Fantilli, just the third freshman ever to win the Hobey Baker after Paul Kariya and Jack Eichel, may not have a NCAA championship to his name, but he has little else to prove at the college level. He has the dominant offensive ceiling to make everyone around him better. His body is NHL ready at 6-foot-2 and 195 pounds. General manager Jarmo Kekalainen left no ambiguity Wednesday night when asked if the thinks Fantilli can make the jump in 2023-24.

“We’re going to talk to him about it, but we feel he’s ready,” Kekalainen said. “We’re going to make sure that he knows we feel he’s ready. He’s already accomplished so much in the college level, winning the Hobey Baker his first year and producing almost two points per game, playing in the men’s World Championship, playing in the World Juniors, that he’s ready for the next challenge. That’s something we’re going to talk about with him, but we’re going to take his thoughts into consideration and listen to him very carefully. But we feel he’s ready.”

Assuming Fantilli wants to turn pro, the Blue Jackets will add him to a lineup in which he’d have a real chance to play a high-impact role right away on a scoring line.

“Adam’s certainly not a fourth-line player or checker,” Kekalainen said. “He’s a guy who’s always played on the top line with top talent on his team. He’s going to get a really big opportunity with us to show that he can belong on those lines and that kind of role with our team as well. (He), like everybody else, will have to earn his ice time on this team.”

After losing 550-plus man games to injury this past season, the Blue Jackets were set to improve dramatically with better team health next season alone. But then they added defensemen Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson via trade earlier this month. Factoring in that last year’s first-round pick, blueliner David Jiricek, is likely to make the team this coming season, the Blue Jackets have a chance to improve in a hurry. Fantilli would undoubtedly accelerate that. But based on Kekalainen’s comments Wednesday, Fantilli may hold the cards in terms of deciding on turning pro.

Whatever happens, any snub narrative is out the window for Fantilli. Wednesday was a joyous night. His suit was lined with the names of all the people in his life who helped him make it to this moment. And he’s ecstatic picturing himself as a Blue Jacket.

“If I can make that cannon go off,” he said, “it’s going to be really cool.”