Adam Fantilli just put up 59 points and his camp is out here acting like Leo Carlsson money is the floor. I need somebody in that room to close the laptop.
Five years at $18 million AAV. That is what Anaheim paid Carlsson after Philadelphia dropped an offer sheet on the second overall pick from 2023 and forced the Ducks’ hand. Connor Bedard got five years at $15 million because he is Connor Bedard. Fantilli, the third overall pick in that same draft, finished 2025-26 with 24 goals and 35 assists in 82 games. Career line through three seasons: 213 games, 67 goals, 140 points. Solid. Ascending. Not the same conversation.
Elliotte Friedman said the quiet part out loud this week. Fantilli and the Blue Jackets remain far apart. His side is sniffing around the Carlsson-Bedard neighborhood. Columbus is reportedly more comfortable somewhere in the $12 million to $15 million range. That is not a gap. That is two different sports arguing over the same locker stall.
Columbus Talked Tough in July. August Is Eating That Speech.
Don Waddell spent early July sounding like a man with a loaded clip. Cap space everywhere. Match anything. Good-faith talks humming.
“The good thing with Fantilli is that I talk to his agent all the time and we’re in a good-faith negotiation,” Waddell told TSN1050. “You may not always agree with what’s coming back your way, but as long as you’re talking, you feel confident that you’ll get a deal done.”
He also said this: “If an offer sheet comes along at some point, there’s no doubt that we’re in a situation with lots of cap space. So, if it did happen, we’re ready to match anything.”
Cute. Then Columbus signed Cole Sillinger and Jet Greaves, the cushion shrank to roughly $13.5 million or under by August, and Fantilli went to Italy while the market detonated around him. Celebrini money. Carlsson money. Bedard money. Every young center’s agent took notes. Pat Brisson did not miss class.
I watched Waddell play the calm veteran in July. I am watching August turn that into a stress test. You cannot brag about matching the world when your remaining space sits inside the exact AAV band the other side wants to blow past. Training camp is a month away. Unsigned franchise center. That is not process. That is a self-inflicted bruise.
The Offer Sheet Crowd Already Flaked Once
Philly Hockey Now floated the idea again this week. Should the Flyers go back to the well on Fantilli? William James kicked the tires. Anthony Di Marco already reported they prefer flexibility for something cleaner. Spector left the door cracked. I am slamming it.
The Flyers already pulled the pin on Carlsson. They proved they will do it. Now they want credit for thinking about Fantilli while protecting every dollar for a “better opportunity.” That is L energy dressed up as strategy. If you believe Fantilli is a top-end center worth nuking a summer over, you do it. If you do not, stop performing curiosity for clicks. Daniel Briere does not get to be the league’s offer-sheet villain once and then hide behind “cap flexibility” when the next target is sitting right there unsigned.
And look, I get the hesitation. Four first-rounders start kicking in around that upper tier. Matching at Carlsson numbers would wreck Columbus in a different way. But floating Fantilli as a hypothetical while admitting you probably will not pull the trigger is the softest version of contention cosplay in the East.
Aaron Portzline had this in the $13 million to $14 million neighborhood weeks ago. That feels like the adult number. Five years. Real money. Not cosplay generational. Fantilli is a hell of a player with real dawg in him. He is not Bedard. He is not automatic $18 million off a 59-point season on a team still searching for an identity. If his camp wants Carlsson comps off that tape, Columbus should let the calendar do the teaching.
I know what Jackets fans are about to type. Loyalty. Hometown. He wants to be here. Cool. Then sign the deal that matches the production, not the panic of a market that just lost its mind for three weeks in July. Waddell already told you he likes the communication. Great. Communication without a number is just vibes.
The sides are far apart because one side watched two peers cash generational paper and decided 24 goals buys the same aisle seat. It does not. Hold the line, Columbus. Or watch some team with actual nerve make you prove that July speech when the space is gone.
Is Fantilli a $15 million center right now, or did the summer just convince half the league that every top-five pick gets a yacht?
