The way Adam Fantilli puts it, hockey mode never ended this summer.
The No. 3 overall pick in the 2023 draft didn’t have much of a break once his University of Michigan season ended. He played with Team Canada at the World Championships in Latvia and Finland, prepped for the draft, was chosen by the Blue Jackets and then had a few months to get ready for his first pro season.
Now he’s in Traverse City, Mich., with the Blue Jackets team competing in the annual NHL Prospects Tournament, and his first NHL training camp will begin in less than a week.
Perhaps even if Fantilli wanted to look ahead at what he might accomplish in his rookie season, he wouldn’t have had time, but that’s also just not his nature.
“I try to live by, ‘Stay where your feet are,’” Fantilli said. “My feet are in Traverse City right now, so I’m going to do my best to play the best I can here and get to know the guys here. There are some guys I could be playing with for a very long time, so I want to get to know and then become friends with them. My focus is just here right now.”
It’s a mature way to look at things, but that’s Fantilli, who seems to have a perspective and a presence well beyond his 18 years of age, one reason he’s wearing an “A” for the tournament.
And with his feet firmly planted on northern Michigan soil, Fantilli put in a solid debut Thursday in his first-ever game wearing a CBJ sweater. In what Fantilli described as an "unreal" experience, he notching two assists, creating scoring chances and generally impressing the CBJ mentor for the event, Cleveland Monsters head coach Trent Vogelhuber.
“I think he was good the whole game,” Vogelhuber said. “He’s dominant. He didn’t score, but you could tell he wanted to score; he almost put a couple of shots through the end wall he shot it so hard. He just barely missed, and one went off the post. But he was as advertised. He’s just competitive, fast, skill through the roof.”
The Blue Jackets chose the Nobleton, Ontario, native third overall because he’s that total package. His skill is evident, as Fantilli became just the third freshman in college hockey history to win the Hobey Baker Award last season as the best player in the country, joining a pair of accomplished NHLers in Paul Kariya and Jack Eichel.
Fantilli led the nation in scoring a season ago, posting a 30-35-65 line in 36 games and posting the top points-per-game total in NCAA hockey since fellow Wolverine and current Winnipeg star Kyle Connor. On top of that, though, he boasts a 200-foot game that should help make his transition into pro hockey go smoothly.
“He’s so competitive on the little things like the faceoffs and the defending,” Vogelhuber said. “He wants to win all those one-on-one battles all over the ice. Yeah, he wants to score, which is part of that competitiveness coming as well, but he also wants to smother and kill it in the defensive zone. He wants to win the faceoff. He gets (upset) when he loses it.
“Those little details are just going to get better and better because he is so hungry to win and to be better, which if there’s one quality in a player you want, that’s it.”
Because of all that, Fantilli has aced every level before the NHL. The biggest test is yet to come, but it helps that Fantilli has also surrounded himself with people who can help him, including his CBJ teammates, and he’s been a sponge at the right moments.
“I have a lot of great people around me,” Fantilli said. “In the summer, I train with a really great group of guys in Plymouth here, and all of those guys have said their peace to me. I’ve asked a lot of questions, so it’s been really helpful. I have a lot of close friends that have played in the NHL and guys that are currently playing, so they’ve been great. They’ve given me words of advice and giving me tips and something to small to use going into the season.”
