{"id":116997,"date":"2025-08-28T21:51:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T21:51:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/116997\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T21:51:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T21:51:06","slug":"blue-jackets-notes-fantilli-provorov-forward-depth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/116997\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jackets Notes: Fantilli, Provorov, Forward Depth"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no question that the Columbus Blue Jackets have one of the cleanest cap tables in the league, especially for how competitive they\u2019re expected to be in the 2025-26 season. Still, as their younger players continue to age, the Blue Jackets are getting closer to potentially having to make difficult decisions, and their extension negotiations with Adam Fantilli<\/a> will have a major impact on their salary hierarchy moving forward.<\/p>\n

Despite having a somewhat disappointing rookie season, albeit limited by injuries, the third overall pick of the 2024 NHL Draft responded well last season, scoring 31 goals and 54 points in 82 games while averaging 17:29 of ice time per game. Fantilli still needs to improve in the faceoff dot and on the defensive side of the puck, but being a 30-goal scorer at 20 years old is nothing to scoff at.<\/p>\n

In a recent interview with James Murphy of RG Media<\/a>, Blue Jackets\u2019 General Manager Don Waddell<\/a> spoke about the upcoming negotiations with Fantilli, saying, We\u2019re going to talk here in the next couple of weeks. Pat Brisson is his agent, and we\u2019re going to do some face-to-face meetings. When these kinds of players are up and these kinds of deals need to be made, I think you need to be in front of each other. I think you make a lot more progress than just over the phone. So that\u2019s always been my theory, and Pat\u2019s the same way. I\u2019ve done a lot of deals over the years with Pat, so we\u2019ll be fine and sit down face-to-face and get this done. As we get closer to training camp, I think we\u2019ll be much further ahead, and we have some dates already planned that we\u2019ll meet, so let\u2019s go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

There technically shouldn\u2019t be any rush on Columbus\u2019s end, given that Fantilli is a few years away from even becoming arbitration-eligible. Still, for the sake of cost certainty and having one of their core pieces locked up long-term, the Blue Jackets are eyeing a long-term extension with Fantilli in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Waddell also spoke about a separate extension this offseason. On the eve of free agency this summer, Columbus re-signed defenseman Ivan Provorov<\/a> to a seven-year, $59.5MM contract, which represented only a $1.75MM yearly increase on his previous deal. Despite reports at the time indicating that Provorov might seek a larger deal on the open market, Waddell explained in the interview that there was no real concern he\u2019d leave the organization.<\/p>\n

Murphy quoted Waddell, saying, \u201cWell, the good thing is I was in dialogue regularly with Mark Andler, his agent, and there\u2019s a lot of outside noise, but Mark kept telling me, and Provorov too, that his first choice was to stay here in Columbus.\u201d Waddell explained that although Provorov\u2019s cap hit may seem high, he believes it will look more favorable as the salary cap increases. Additionally, Provorov\u2019s preparation for each season is expected to enhance his longevity throughout the duration of the contract.<\/p>\n

Lastly, Waddell touched on his excitement over the depth the Blue Jackets brought in this summer, particularly on offense. The team specifically targeted Charlie Coyle<\/a> as a right-handed center and believes his leadership skills will prove a boon to the younger players on the roster.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the team\u2019s General Manager also remarked about the skill level of Miles Wood<\/a> on the offensive side of the puck and Isac Lundestr\u00f6m<\/a>\u2019s skill on the defensive side of the puck. All three additions are expected to maintain important roles for the Blue Jackets this season and help the team return to the postseason for the first time since the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s no question that the Columbus Blue Jackets have one of the cleanest cap tables in the league,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[62735,12701,392,62738,75677,75678,12703,385,99],"class_list":["post-116997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-adam-fantilli","tag-charlie-coyle","tag-columbus-blue-jackets","tag-don-waddell","tag-isac-lundestrom","tag-ivan-provorov","tag-miles-wood","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}