It's starting to sink in for Fantilli -- he's a Blue Jacket

Weeks must have felt like months as Adam Fantilli wondered throughout the spring which team would choose him in the NHL draft.

But ever since Wednesday night, things have moved at a breakneck pace. Three days ago, the Blue Jackets made him the No. 3 overall pick in the draft, and today, Fantilli made the decision to forgo his final years of eligibility at the University of Michigan to turn pro.

With his three-year entry level deal signed, sealed and delivered, Fantilli is officially a Blue Jacket.

"It's starting to sink in a little bit," Fantilli said this afternoon at Nationwide Arena. "Wearing the jersey helps. Coming to this city and seeing how gorgeous it is and watching that video of The 5th Line at the watch party there and how welcoming they're being has been amazing."

In truth, though, there were no reasons to expect it would take a long, drawn-out process to ink just the third freshman ever to win the Hobey Baker Award. There was little reason for the 6-2, 195-pound center to go back to do it again after he was chosen as college hockey's best player, and further evidence of his ability to hold his own against pros came when he acquitted himself well at the IIHF World Championships in May.

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"It was a brief discussion," general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said. "I think we both felt that he was ready to take the next step, the next challenge. We were very clear on that in our conversations with him. We watched him all year on different levels in college, in the World Juniors, the men's World Championship playing against mostly NHL players.

"He's a big man, as you can see. He's physically ready. He's mentally ready to take the next step and the next challenge. That was our position, and he agreed."

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Time will tell what impact Fantilli -- who will turn 19 on opening night Oct. 12 -- can have early on, but there's reason to believe it could be a good one. He moved up the lineup at the World Championships for the gold medal-winning Canada squad, scoring a key goal in a semifinal win over Latvia. His showing in the Big Ten -- one of the toughest leagues in college hockey, filled with NHL draft picks -- also was encouraging.

The Blue Jackets saw Cole Sillinger, the No. 12 overall pick of the 2021 draft, stick with the team the entire ensuing season at age 18, and Kent Johnson made his debut as a teenager at the end of that season as well before becoming one of the most productive rookies in the league this year. In all, 17 teenagers have made their NHL debuts with the Blue Jackets in franchise history, but Kekalainen said stats won't be the way to measure how Fantilli performs this upcoming season.

"Improvement every day," Kekalainen said when asked what he's looking for. "Come to work with the mind-set of being a better player -- what can we do today to be a better hockey player and a better pro? I think that's one of the big reasons we drafted him. We think he has that mind-set. He's driven to get better.

"That's what I always say about young players. We don't put any numerical expectations on young players like him, we just expect him to come to work every day to get better."

Fantilli acknowledged it was tough to leave Michigan, where he described the Wolverines as the closest team he's ever played on. He was sure to thank Wolverine fans and the school on social media after signing, but he was on the same page as the Blue Jackets when it comes to getting his pro career under way.

"I had a pretty good feeling and he had a good feeling as well," Fantilli said of his discussions with Kekalainen. "Going through the interview process at the combine and everything that way, I thought we had a really good relationship there. Hopefully we can continue to develop that. I am feeling ready. I thought we were both confident, so that's what led to the decision."

Along with his first pro contract, Fantilli has his first sweater number as well. The No. 19, which he wore at Michigan, is unavailable (Liam Foudy) as well as the No. 91 he wore with Team Canada (Johnson). New defense acquisition Ivan Provorov also inherited the No. 9 he donned with the Flyers, so Fantilli decided to go with No. 11 to kick things off.

"9, 19 and 91 were all taken when I was picking," he said. "I was just talking to my parents and we thought the 1's would look good with the L's in my name. We didn't want to go with too high of a number, so we stuck with 11."