Adam Fantilli

Hope that, uh, I don't know.

I'm probably taking defense next round even if Fantilli comes back, but all right.

Is this gonna fill? Feels like it's very slowly progressing.

Let me see what's going on over on Yahoo! Yahoo! All right.

This is obviously Pasternak at the eighth spot.

I love that.

Marchenko, Werenski, Nichushkin, Fantilli, and question mark on Columbus power play one, probably Coyle.

He was there last year.

Seven centers is a lot.

You've got Charlie Coyle, Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson, Isaac Lundestrom, Sean Monahan, Cole Sillinger, and Owen Sillinger.

That's crowded.

Cole Sillinger just signed a three-year, $13.875 million deal to avoid arbitration, which shows they value him.

It guarantees him opportunity.

I think Cole Sillinger will battle for a bottom six role, maybe pairing with someone like Isaac Lundestrom.

Adam Fantilli and Kent Johnson are the top-tier talents here, likely competing for top six minutes.

Charlie Coyle provides veteran leadership and two-way play.

Despite the vibes feeling kinda rancid right now, and that can obviously derail things, I think winning fixes a lot of things.

And if Marchenko's still on the roster to start the season, and he plays it out, I, again, assuming Fantilli signs in time for the season as well, I think we could see a big jump from him.

I like him a lot more than I think the typical analytics person does because I think the talent is there.

And even if he ends up, like, Scheifele-esque and just being a bit more of an empty-calorie scorer, I think there's still value there.

I think their forward group is deep.

They just need some of these forwards to turn into legit stars.

And I think if you get a big season from Fantilli and Marchenko, and Werenski keeps cooking and Greaves keeps cooking, that this team could f- like, get-- like, they could create vibes just from winning.

It's the same-- It's a similar scenario to Buffalo last year, where I think there was a lot of noise about people wanting out and being tired of losing and all that stuff, but then they start winning, and now the vibes are immaculate.

Yeah.

Like there's a reason why they picked Adam Fantilli so high.

There's a reason, you know, Kaiden Lindstrom is not looking like a great pick at number four overall, you know, one pick before Demidov.

Uh, but you know, they have those guys.

Yeah.

And by the same token, what about Adam Fantilli, who's looking for a long-term contract? He brings up really all of the same stuff.

And I, this is, I mean, I don't, and neither does Mathias Brunet appear to have an answer to this from a Columbus perspective.

How can you trade Kirill Marchenko while keeping relations positive with Zach Werenski, who has publicly stated that, yeah, he's willing to stick around, but, but, or if, if-

They need cap space.

Adam Fantilli's gonna take them to the financial cleaners.

You want Marchenko, and Phil Fowler is going to be, uh, a key component in that transaction.

What do you think about that?

If I'm the Columbus Blue Jackets, I'm trying to see if I can get into this any way possible because maybe that helps with Zach Wierenski having his buddy here and them playing together.

I do not want to do this at the expense of an Adam Fantilli.

However...

It sure seems like there's a distance here between the Blue Jackets and Adam Fantilli.

And it sounds like Fantilli's camp wants that $15 million a year type deal.

And the Blue Jackets aren't there.

And I've got to be honest, I don't know if Adam Fantilli's worth $15 million a year, quite frankly.

I know that's the price of doing business right now.

Second, the goaltending battle between Greaves and Merzlikens.

And third, the center ice log jam that includes Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson, and our newest long-term man, Cole Sillinger.

And we're also gonna touch on those bold predictions we made over the last few days, specifically regarding Kirill Marchenko's scoring on opening night against Buffalo.

It's all coming up.

It allows him to focus on his development rather than worrying about his job security every night.

Let's talk about the center ice log jam.

Ad Hockey Nerd 42 asks, We have Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson, Cole Sillinger, Charlie Coyle, Sean Monahan, and even Owen Sillinger, who starts on the first line.

And how do you balance the roles?