Adam Fantilli continues to improve as he plays through his third NHL season with the Columbus Blue Jackets. While he’s making news with how he’s impacting games on the ice, he’s quietly doing something with the rest of his game that everyone will notice sooner rather than later.
Fantilli continues to become a more complete player.
Scoring 31 goals in your sophomore season will garner a lot of attention. But it’s what he’s doing with the rest of his game that will continue to elevate him into an eventual NHL superstar.
In fact, that process started in earnest last season.
Beyond Goals & Points
Fantilli takes a lot of pride playing both sides of the ice. While he loves to score, he loves to play defense too.
Some of his other numbers bear that out. In 2024-25, Fantilli recorded 113 hits while playing in all 82 games. He also blocked 56 shots showing a commitment to trying his best to keep the puck out of the net.
So far in 2025-26, Fantilli has 22 hits and 13 blocks in 21 games. But where he’s really elevated himself is in the faceoff circle. He’s a much-improved player at the dot.
Fantilli’s success rate has jumped 10% from 41.2% in 2024-25 to 51.1% entering Saturday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. He’s proving he belongs in every important situation.
Coach Dean Evason mentioned Fantilli’s work ethic as a reason why he’s becoming a more complete player today.
“It started last year, his commitment to play the game the right way and to play both ends and to concentrate on his defensive game.” Evason said. “It’s helped his offensive game. He’s put himself in really good positions to check which gives him the opportunity to get the puck which gives him an opportunity to score goals. So yeah, his commitment level in all areas has continually gotten better because of his mindset to do it.”
Fantilli took full advantage of his time at the Men’s World Championships this past offseason as a key for him to reach the next level. This was especially evident on becoming a more dependable faceoff man.
“I think faceoffs honestly, talking to a lot of guys,” Fantilli said. “I talk to (Sean Monahan) all the time. I talked to (Sidney) Crosby overseas. I talk to (Dylan) Larkin in the summers. I want to get better at them. And everyone says it comes with experience and being in those situations. And also practicing your timing and your skills and everything that way. But a lot of it comes with experience of just being in there and understanding players that you’re going against and situations that you’re in.”
“I think I’ve been taking enough where I’m getting to the point where I’m starting to understand and starting to get a little bit better. Hopefully, I can continue to get better.”
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Even before being moved to play with Dmitri Voronkov and Kirill Marchenko, Fantilli’s confidence never wavered. Even though he wasn’t getting the numbers, he still thought his game was in a good place. It was just a matter of time.
“I knew I was playing well,” Fantilli said. “I liked my game. I’m really happy we started contributing on the scoresheet. That’s something I’ve come here for and what I have to do. But I still liked the way I was playing.”
Fantilli has 8-8-16 in 21 games entering play on Saturday putting him on an over 30-goal pace again while impacting more areas of the game overall. After a slower start to the season, he is shining with Voronkov and Marchenko.
That line is outscoring opponents 7-6 at 5-on-5 (per Nat Stat Trick) and controlling the majority of scoring chances while on the ice together. But it is Fantilli’s understanding of the importance of the other side of the puck that has him in position to continue his rapid improvement as a complete two-way center.
“I got to play the right way. For the most part, I think I’ve been doing that. I want to get on the scoresheet. I want to help us win games and you can’t win without scoring. So I want to contribute there. But you also can’t win without playing the right way and defending properly. So just continue to do that. Everyone’s doing a great job of that so far.”
