Insider: Blue Jackets & Adam Fantilli Have A Challenge Coming Together On Extension

There are still a couple of massive contracts that could drop this offseason, and one of them belongs to Columbus Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli.

While the 21-year-old has watched his contemporaries like Leo Carlsson and Connor Bedard sign massive breakthrough extensions this summer, the Jackets' restricted free agent is still without a deal. 

Carlsson pulled in an $18 million AAV after the Philadelphia Flyers offer sheeted him that amount, and the Anaheim Ducks matched it. On the heels of that, soon thereafter, Bedard signed a $15M AAV deal with the Chicago Blackhawks for the same five-year term. 

According to insider Elliotte Friedman, appearing on NHL Network, those two deals have presented a challenge for several negotiations around the league, including the one between the Blue Jackets and Fantilli. 

I think it's a challenge... With Fantilli... I wouldn't be surprised if they're (Fantilli's camp) looking at, 'Okay, well, if Carlsson is $18M and Bedard's $15M, I'd like to be in that range'. And I'm sure Columbus is probably in about the $12M or $12 and a half range.

We heard from a Columbus insider a couple of weeks back, who projected a Fantilli deal to come in somewhere between that Blue Jackets stance and the Bedard deal. 

However it sorts itself out, it will get done, likely before training camp kicks off in about five weeks' time or so. 

Fantilli, who was the third overall pick in that 2023 NHL Draft, with Bedard going first and Carlsson second, will soon be joining his draft classmates as a very, very rich young man. 

Columbus has just under $13.5 million in cap space available, just right about the amount, give or take a few dollars, that Fantilli could wind up with. 

He finished the past season with 24 goals and a career-best 59 points in 82 games. Those offensive numbers are a fair bit below the exploits of Carlsson and Bedard last year, but the promise for much more is there for the Jackets' sizeable center. He plays a big, powerful two-way game.