Blue Jackets: Adam Fantilli scored on the team that passed on him

The Columbus Blue Jackets are trying to have a much better season than the one they had a year ago. Regardless of how last year went, they will always be thankful that it led to them having Adam Fantilli. He is going to lead them for a long time.

Columbus wasn’t like the other bad teams from last season. Unlike Chicago, Montreal, Anaheim, and San Jose, they were bad by accident. Injuries led to their downfall in the end. Now, they are trying to climb right back up.

Adam Fantilli was never going to be the number-one pick over Connor Bedard. When the Chicago Blackhawks won the lottery and the Anaheim Ducks came in second, everyone figured that Fantilli would be headed to Southern California. The Ducks had different plans though.

They passed on Fantilli and took Leo Carlsson. Now, Carlsson may very well also be a superstar as he has looked really good himself. The top three picks all have a Hall of Fame ceiling. However, don’t think this will be in Fantilli’s head for the rest of his career.

Adam Fantilli has a lot to prove in the NHL with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

He is out to prove that he should have been the second pick. Hey, why shouldn’t he even believe that he could have been the first pick? Bedard is better but that doesn’t mean that Fantilli can’t strive to prove that narrative wrong too.

For the first time in Fantilli’s career, however, he faced off against Anaheim. You always want to play well against the team that passed on you for someone else. He did just that. During the NHL Frozen Frenzy, Adam Fantilli went to work.

The Ducks won the game in overtime thanks to a winner by Frank Vatrano. However, that doesn’t mean that Fantilli wasn’t the best skater on either team. He scored against the Ducks and collected an assist. Both of those moments had to feel amazing for him.

We haven’t seen him play in huge NHL games yet but we’ve seen him play in big games with Team Canada and Michigan in the past. He always showed up big in those. Well, coming to play against Anaheim shows that he might be carrying that clutch skill into the NHL too. We’ll learn more as time goes on.

Fantilli is a special player and anyone would be lucky to have him. The Blue Jackets move to 3-2-1 with the OTL but they are in the early stages of the race. It will be interesting to see where it goes from here as they head up north to play the Montreal Canadiens.