When will Adam Fantilli and the Columbus Blue Jackets agree to an extension?
The NHL is in the dog days of the offseason. There are a few free agents left who still need new contracts. Entering this offseason many were watching the “Big Three” from the 2023 NHL Draft, Connor Bedard, Adam Fantilli, and Leo Carlsson.
All were restricted free agents coming off their entry-level deals and eligible for offer sheets. However, there was a catch. Each of those players expected the other to place the market. Many thought Bedard would go first. No one thought it would be Carlsson who made the market for this group of RFAs.
As the Anaheim Ducks agreed to a five-year, $18 million-a-season sheet for Leo Carlsson, Connor Bedard signed a five-year, $15 million-a-season contract; the last to sign a new contract is Adam Fantilli of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
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Aaron Portzline of The Athletic joined the SiriusXM NHL Network Radio Power Play on Monday and was asked when Adam Fantilli will sign his next contract and what the average annual value will look like.
Writing for NHLRumors.com
Host: “Well, as we stand right now, Adam Fantilli is still a restricted free agent, obviously a key piece of what Columbus wants moving forward. Aaron, what might that contract look like, and where are we at? It doesn’t sound like there’s a lot of concern about this one; it sounds like we’re going to do something at some point, but the Blues will be opening Jackson tonight. Getting pen to paper, do you think, on Adam Fantilli’s contract?”
Aaron Portzline: “Yeah, that’s the sense I’ve gotten, too, that it seems inevitable at some point here, and I think that with each passing day, the possibility of an offer sheet seems to fade away a little bit.
I think (Leo) Carlsson’s sheet brought it one way, where people thought, “Boy, he’s going to get paid maybe more than the original negotiations. I think (Connor) Bedard brought it back to the fact that what Carlsson got is not an accurate picture of what RFAs coming out of their entry levels are going to get, even the best players.
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So I suspect they paid between $13 and $14 million for Fantilli on a five-year contract. I believe that is what they are talking about. So, I think he’s in uniform and he’s still good with the team when the season starts with the green jackets this year.”
Given the market and where things are headed, as Portzline noted, the Auston Matthews result is here, and the expectation is that Fantilli will follow Bedard and Carlsson and sign a five-year deal with the Blue Jackets. However, Fantilli’s maximum figure would be closer to $14 million in AAV, not $13 million.
Similar to Bedard, when Fantilli finally signs his new contract, he’ll probably say he had no intention of signing the offer sheet because if he did, it would have been done by now as Columbus matched whatever number was presented to him.
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