Adam Fantilli isn’t making any secret of how he feels about Kirill Marchenko’s exit, and the Blue Jackets centre believes Columbus came out ahead by getting the move done.
Fantilli said the club avoided a messy season by parting ways with a player who didn’t want to be there.
“Happy we got guys who want to be here,” Fantilli said. “It would have been a nightmare having a guy that didn’t want to be here all year. I’m glad we got that trade done when we did.”
The situation clearly stuck with him. Fantilli said he had expected to spend the season skating alongside Marchenko, which made the request hard to absorb.
The two talked briefly after a team drug-testing session, when Marchenko told him he was leaving. They haven’t spoken since.
“I had a conversation with him right before he left, wished him well, but since he left I haven’t talked to him,” Fantilli said. He said he hadn’t gone deep into the reasons behind the move, adding that Marchenko “has his reasons,” whether those involved linemates, management or coaches. Fantilli’s frustration seems rooted in the fact that he believed the two would be together all year, and whatever Marchenko’s view of the team was, Fantilli appeared to take the request as a personal slight.
He still had praise for his former linemate, describing Marchenko as “super smart, skilled” and “a competitor” who wanted to win and create offense. Fantilli also said he’s looking forward to seeing him on Tuesday night, when the Blue Jackets meet the Toronto Maple Leafs. The feeling around that matchup is that Fantilli will have something to prove.
He didn’t go so far as to say Marchenko was out of sync with the team’s identity. But he did make it clear that a player who doesn’t want to stay doesn’t fit cleanly into the room.
“Not wanting to be here puts someone in a category where he’s kind of isolated,” he said. “We want guys who want to work together and figure this whole thing out together, and I think we got that.”
The comments also land against a wider cloud around the Blue Jackets, with speculation already circling about another core player. On Frankly Hockey on Oct. 1, insider Frank Seravalli said he wouldn’t be shocked if the team made a coaching change within 20 games.
He also said the situation around defenceman Zach Werenski “has never really left,” and pointed to next summer as the point when Werenski will have to make an extension decision. Seravalli said he believes the answer will likely be no.
That leaves an obvious question hanging over Columbus: if Werenski is not eager to stay, would the rest of the room feel the same way about him as they did about Marchenko?
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For Columbus, the intrigue is less about the Penguins direction and more about where a name like Rakell could surface if Pittsburgh decides to shop him before the deadline. Previous trade talks around him went nowhere, and the Penguins are said to be looking for a sensible return rather than simply taking the first offer, so this may not move quickly. Still, with Pittsburgh open to changing course and a veteran scorer on the block, it is the kind of storyline that can ripple beyond one division and into conversations the Blue Jackets have to watch closely. [Read more 🡒]