Two contracts are done, and Adam Fantilli is the one still waiting.
Columbus president and general manager Don Waddell entered the offseason with three restricted free agents to sort out. Jet Greaves is signed.
Cole Sillinger is signed. That leaves Fantilli, the former third overall pick, as the final piece of business, with a new deal expected to come together soon after his vacation in Italy.
The market around him is already taking shape. Connor Bedard and second overall pick Leo Carlsson have both landed new contracts, and Macklin Celebrini set the bar even higher with a five-year, $94 million deal that carries an $18.8 million average annual value.
That figure topped the $18 million Carlsson received earlier this offseason when the Ducks matched the Flyers' offer sheet. Celebrini’s second NHL season was a monster one: 45 goals, 70 assists and 115 points, a 52-point jump, plus a fourth-place finish in Hart Trophy voting.
Bedard signed his own five-year extension worth $75 million, with a $15 million AAV. The Athletic's Aaron Portline believes Fantilli’s next contract will land at five years and somewhere in the $13-14 million range annually.
Aaron Portzline believes Fantilli’s extension with the Blue Jackets will come in at 5 years with a $13-14 Million AAV. pic.twitter.com/0XCphSQyZy
- Daily Faceoff (@DailyFaceoff) July 28, 2026
Whatever the final number is, Fantilli is about to be paid like a centerpiece. And with that money comes a bigger burden: Columbus needs him to become one of its most important forwards, maybe the most important one.
That’s where the Blue Jackets’ bigger picture comes into focus. Getting back to the playoffs is the obvious target, but that’s only the first layer. Once they get there, the real question is what kind of team they can be.
Fantilli may not have drawn the same spotlight as Bedard or Carlsson, but his production says he belongs in that tier of young talent. His rookie year was chopped in half by injury, limiting him to 49 games. Since then, he’s played all 82 games in each of the last two seasons and kept moving forward.
In 2024-25, Fantilli put up 54 points with 31 goals and 23 assists. In 2025-26, he followed with 59 points, including 24 goals and 35 assists.
Over the last two seasons, that adds up to 113 points, one more than Carlsson in the same span. If you include Fantilli’s injury-shortened 2023-24 season, Carlsson has a narrow 141-140 edge in career points.
Bedard, meanwhile, has 203 points since arriving in 2023-24, with 75 goals and 128 assists, while dealing with a few different injuries.
For Columbus, the ask is straightforward: Fantilli has to keep climbing. The growth has been steady so far. Now the standard changes from improvement to real impact.
The Blue Jackets do not need him to become Connor McDavid overnight. They need him to be the kind of player who helps tilt games and pile up wins. If he does that, the playoff chase gets a lot more believable, and the ceiling for this team stretches far beyond simply snapping the six-year drought.
That could mean 70-80 points, a bigger threat on the power play, or another step forward defensively under head coach Rick Bowness. However it comes, Columbus is counting on Fantilli to help turn a playoff goal into something more concrete.
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For Montreal, the appeal is easy enough to understand. The Canadiens are searching for help and Marchenkos position makes him a natural fit in the type of upgrade they keep weighing against what they already have on the wing. Still, the more scouts and analysts dig into the fit, the more this feels like the kind of chase that can look obvious on paper while masking a bigger question: whether Columbus would actually end up in a place where moving him makes practical sense at all. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Stay In The Middle Of A Goalie Debate Fans Feel Strongly About
As the NHL drifts toward another offseason of trade chatter, Columbus is again finding its name attached to one of the louder rumors. The Blue Jackets are among the teams that could be active as the 2026-27 season approaches, with Kirill Marchenko and Zach Werenski both mentioned in the broader swirl of possible deals, while other clubs around the league are also expected to explore their own roster changes.
Kirill Marchenko is the name to watch in the trade talk, especially with interest coming from Montreal and the kind of league-wide speculation that tends to spread fast once the offseason opens up. Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell said it had been weeks since he last discussed a possible Marchenko trade with another general manager, but that has not done much to quiet a conversation that still feels very much alive. [Read more 🡒]