COLUMBUS, Ohio — Late last month, Blue Jackets rookie center Adam Fantilli was walking from Nationwide Arena to his downtown condo when a fan stopped him for an autograph. As Fantilli scrawled his name and number on the puck, the man reached into his pocket and took out a piece of paper.
The kid from Toronto was about to get a lesson in Midwestern hospitality.
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The fan knew that Fantilli, the No. 3 overall pick less than four months ago, was new to the city and a long way from home. So he’d printed a long list of restaurants and establishments in the area, with his own descriptions of the menu and atmosphere.
“It was double-sided,” Fantilli said. “It was so nice. I put it on my refrigerator. I’m checking them off as I go, but they’ve all been good so far.”
There are many ways that Blue Jackets fans would like to welcome Fantilli to Columbus. The club is being careful not to anoint him as the franchise savior, but it’s quite possible — with apologies to Rick Nash — that he’s the most talented player the franchise has ever drafted.
Adamo Giuliano Fantilli, known to the world as Adam and to his teammates as “Mo,” will make his NHL debut on Thursday, which just so happens to be his 19th birthday. He’ll have a large group of friends and family in Nationwide Arena — his father, Guiliano, said the group numbers “over 20” — and he’ll get a deafening reception from the sold-out crowd. (Maybe they’ll sing him “Happy Birthday!”)
The dawn of a highly-anticipated career is upon us, so The Athletic reached out to some of the prominent people in Fantilli’s orbit: his father, Giuliano; his older brother, Luca, who plays at the University of Michigan; his long-time trainer, Dave D’Ammizio; his coach at Michigan, Brandon Naurato; and his current coach with the Blue Jackets, Pascal Vincent.
We also asked Fantilli, who claims to never get nervous, to express what opening night and the start of his career means to him.
Here’s what they said:
Giuliano Fantilli, father
Giuliano Fantilli has anticipated this night since the Blue Jackets drafted his son on that magical night this summer in Nashville. He’s managed to check his emotions, but he knows they will overwhelm him when the puck drops Thursday.
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“It’s like at the draft,” he said. “I wasn’t really thinking about it too much. It was on my mind, but I wasn’t anxious about it until we got into our seats.
“I’m gonna be a train wreck (Thursday). I’m an emotional guy, always have been. Both of my boys, when they started at Michigan, it just seemed surreal to me. So, yeah, the NHL … I’m going to be a mess, no doubt about it.”
The Fantillis are not the stereotypical hockey parents. Giuliano, who owns a kitchen remodeling company in the Toronto suburbs, grew up a Boston Bruins fan. Favorite player? Cam Neely. He was delighted when both of his sons wanted to play hockey when they were young.
“I immediately saw how much they loved it,” Giuliano said. “My older boy, Luca, could be on the ice for 15 hours and not come off. Luca just loves to play. He always plays with a smile on his face.
“Whereas Adam, he loves to compete. That’s the joy he gets out of hockey. Not that Luca isn’t competitive. It’s just that they each have a way about them.”
He recognized that Adam was wired differently from a young age, he said.
“As a kid, he was different right away,” Giuliano said with a laugh. “This is way before he played hockey, too. I said this kid is either going to do 10 to 20 years (in prison) or he’s going to be a CEO of a Fortune 500 company. He was very determined, very headstrong.
“He was also borne with an unusual amount of strength. Now, how that’s possible with a little kid, I don’t know, but he’s always been incredibly strong.”
It didn’t dawn on Giuliano or Julia that Adam was a special talent until he was a teenager.
“We’d play in these tournaments against the best teams in North America, and Adam would be playing up a year and holding his own,” Giuliano said. “That was the first clue that this might be something that he might want to pursue.”
To this day, Giuliano and Julia Fantilli carry themselves with a charming sense of excitement. They were enthralled that their son was drafted by Columbus — a much shorter trip than Anaheim — and have marveled at the excitement for him in the city.
During the Traverse City prospects tournament, Julia expressed surprise that a fan made a sign identifying “No. 11 Adam Fantilli” as her favorite player. When told that fans in Columbus already had Fantilli’s No. 11 sweater in the closest, she was left mouth agape.
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“Already?” she said. “Oh, how wonderful.”
Giuliano and Julia made frequent trips from Toronto to Ann Arbor, Mich., to see Adam and Luca play for the Wolverines. They’ll be frequent visitors in Nationwide this season, too, and they plan drives to Montreal, Ottawa, Buffalo and Pittsburgh for Blue Jackets road games.
Dave D’Ammizio, trainer/skills coach
This is remarkable: Fantilli started working with D’Ammizio in his Toronto gym in 2011 when Fantilli was just 6 years old.
“Adam gets a lot of experts and specialists put in front of him,” D’Ammizio said. “So I’m very fortunate to work with him as long as I have.”
One of the major reasons the Blue Jackets believed Fantilli could go straight from college to the NHL was his size, strength and frame. That’s all Fantilli’s work, of course, but it’s come mostly under D’Ammizio’s direction.
“I hear people say, ‘You can’t improve this skill,’ or, ‘You’re either born with it or you’re not,'” D’Ammizio said. “Well, Adam is a prime example of that being the furthest thing from the truth. He wasn’t born with anything but a work ethic and a desire to play hockey and get better.
“We tell Adam that his hands weren’t fast enough, and he’d put in hours upon hours upon hours on the ice and off to get better. That’s where his skating came from, his shooting, everything. … He’s a product of hard work, discipline and dedication.”
D’Ammizio has worked with Toronto’s Mitch Marner, New Jersey’s Luke and Jack Hughes, and Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes, among several other NHL players. Consider those names when you read D’Ammizio’s evaluation of Fantilli.
“I’ve not seen anyone with that desire and work ethic,” D’Ammizio said. “I knew that he was special from a very young age. From diet to sleep to exercise, he’s always been really committed.
“He wasn’t a big partier. He wasn’t a big fancy guy, wanting to wear fancy clothes. He just wants to be on the ice, with his brother, working and playing hockey.”
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D’Ammizio has never watched a game in Nationwide Arena, but he’s making the trip to Columbus this week.
“I told Adam that I was probably gonna miss it because I coach midget hockey in Toronto,” D’Ammizio said. “He said, ‘I only have one NHL debut game in my life.’ My response was, ‘Point well taken, you’re right.’ I don’t want to miss it anyway.
“It’s going to be a special moment. When you see somebody who has worked so hard for so many years…
“Just the thought of him in a Blue Jackets jersey, on the ice, playing in the NHL … it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.”
Brandon Naurato, head coach, University of Michigan
Naurato was in his first season as Michigan’s coach when Adam Fantilli played his first and only season for the Wolverines. But he could tell right away that Fantilli was special, right there with some of the other great players who have come through the university.
“He’d come into my office like 10 minutes before warmups and be like, ‘Hey, do you have some clips for me?'” Naurato said. “In my head, I’m like, ‘Dude, just get ready for the game. You’ve watched video and prepared for this game all week.’
“But then you realize, that’s just Adam’s way of getting his brain in the right spot. And those are the cool things you get to witness at Michigan. The Kent Johnsons, the Owen Powers, the Matty Beniers, Fantillis, the Hugheses … they think differently. These guys are special in the way they handle themselves.”
Naurato had a lengthy run as a hockey skills coach before he joined Michigan. One of his clients the last several summers has been Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski, also a former Wolverine.
Fantilli’s approach actually reminded him of Werenski, he said.
“When I would show him areas where he could improve — stopping on pucks, getting better body positioning, whatever — it wasn’t like ‘Oh, I’m failing this!'” Naurato said. “They took it like, ‘I need to fix this’ and ‘this is going to make me better.’
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“You tell them something and you don’t have to tell them many more times. It’s in their games. You feel like a rock-star coach, like, ‘I can fix anything.’ But it’s these people who are willing to buy into everything. They develop at a faster rate.”
Naurato can’t wait to see what Fantilli becomes in the NHL. There’s a mean streak that Blue Jackets fans haven’t yet seen, he said.
“He’s got a screw loose in a good way,” Naurato said. “If there was fighting (in college hockey), he would have fought four or five times. Imagine being targeted every single game — and rightfully so, because he’s one of the best players — but not being able to take that aggression out.
“Adam got kicked out of that Michigan State game, and that wasn’t even a fight. Pushing guys, throwing punches after the whistle … he was being targeted. He was matched up on every single game like that, and eventually, you’ve had enough. He’ll see the same at the next level.
“I’m not saying he should fight (in the NHL), but he won’t back down. He will not back down.”
Luca Fantilli, brother
Adam’s older brother, Luca, is a sophomore defenseman at the University of Michigan. He won’t be in Nationwide Arena on Thursday because the Wolverines have a weekend series at UMass, but he’ll be there in spirit and he’ll be watching from afar.
“It’s a really strong sense of pride, just sitting back and watching the special things that he’s doing,” Luca Fantilli said. “I watched him play that preseason game against Pittsburgh (in Columbus) and I had butterflies the whole time.
“I can’t believe my little bro is going through this, but I’m super proud of him. He deserves it.”
Luca is a good hockey player in his own right. Michigan is one of the top NCAA programs in the country, plus he’s attended NHL development camps with the New York Rangers (2022) and the Pittsburgh Penguins (2023). When did he know his little brother was special?
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“Growing up, he always played a year up, but he wasn’t always the best player in the league by any stretch,” Luca Fantilli said. “I’d say from the time he was 13 or 14 that I knew he’d be something special. He was just bigger, stronger, and faster, and he would just dominate games.
“He had a lot of doubters going a year up to play in (the Greater Toronto Hockey League) as a 15-year-old. But I knew, and my parents knew, he was going to dominate there.”
The brothers went through a sibling rivalry phase; they were both extremely competitive. But they both count each other as their best friends and they FaceTime every day in the early evening after the Wolverines have finished practice. They text message each other constantly.
“We were competitive about everything, just constantly trying to beat each other,” Luca said. “But we started playing on teams together and got older and our relationship just kind of grew and took off. I can say he’s my best friend in the whole world. I miss him a lot over here in Ann Arbor, but I’m so proud of what he’s doing.”
How does Luca think Adam will fare in his first NHL season?
“The thing with Adam is, he’s really persistent,” he said. “He wants to learn and he wants to know what he did wrong, where his faults are, and he wants to fix those right away. So, I think stepping into the NHL, he’s a young player with a lot to learn.
“In my opinion, he’s going to dominate. I don’t want to jinx anything, but I think he’s going to do great. He’s got great players around him and a great organization. He has a lot to learn, but I think he’s going to do really well.”
Pascal Vincent, head coach, Blue Jackets
Fantilli came into the NHL with huge expectations. The Blue Jackets believe they’re getting an offensive difference-maker, a 200-foot player and a player who is precocious enough to play center in the NHL as a teenager.
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Asked if Fantilli has met all those standards in training camp, Vincent smiled and paused: “I’d say he’s done more than that.”
With that, the loquacious Vincent let loose.
“I was told he’s got a chip on his shoulder and that he played a 200-foot game,” Vincent said. “I didn’t know he had such a good release (with his shot). I didn’t know how he would adapt. I didn’t know the man, so getting to know him as a person … he has a lot of leadership skills, and he’s got that desire to be a good player right now.
“I don’t care about the age, I really don’t. If you’re a player who can help the Blue Jackets, you’re going to play. He came here with the right mindset. His conditioning was great, and that chip was on his shoulder.”
Vincent contorted his face and paused for a moment when asked if he’s ever had a young player that’s as complete a package as Fantilli.
“I don’t like to compare players,” Vincent said. “I’ve coached Sidney Crosby with Team Canada when he was 16 years old, and you could tell that Sid was a special guy. I don’t want to compare those two, so don’t get me wrong. But the mindset of each of them is very similar.”
Vincent has had several talks with Fantilli throughout training camp. One of them, in recent days, really impressed the coach.
“(Fantilli) says to me, ‘Everybody says (the NHL) is not a development league, but I think it is,'” Vincent recalled. “I asked him, ‘Why do you think that?’ He said, ‘I want to keep developing. I know I’m young, but when I’m 30 years old I still want to develop.’
“I told him he was 100 percent right. It’s all about winning, but in order to win consistently, you have to keep evolving and developing. And he gets that already, at a very young age.”
Vincent has been a coach for 30 years, but he and Fantilli — in one sense — are kindred spirits. Vincent will be making his NHL head-coaching debut on Thursday, too. Both the player and coach will have their parents and family members in the crowd, beaming with pride.
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“I want him to enjoy that first game,” Vincent said. “We’re in the same position, right? I’m going to enjoy it. There’s only one. There’s only one first game in your life. It will never happen again. He and I will have the same approach, just enjoy it.”
Adam Fantilli
He’s played on the big stage of the IIHF World Junior Championship. He’s played in NCAA Frozen Fours. But Fantilli said he’s never known what it means to be nervous.
“As a kid, I never got nervous for big games, big moments,” Fantilli said. “I like to think of it more as excitement. You feel big emotions, you feel things on the inside that get you going, but it’s more excitement for me.”
But what will he feel on Thursday when he plays in an NHL game?
“I have no clue,” Fantilli said. “I want to embrace it for what it is. You only get one first game, so I’m really excited to just go out there and enjoy it for what it is. I just want to get the win and focus on playing hockey the right way and maybe after that, I’ll look back and soak it up.”
Many have predicted that Fantilli will challenge for the Calder Trophy, given annually to the NHL’s best rookie. Many think he’ll make an immediate impact for the Blue Jackets on both ends of the ice,
Fantilli himself is setting expectations in a different way, much more big picture.
“I know I’m not the finished product,” Fantilli said. “I still have a lot of work to do, a lot to learn from the guys in this room. That’s my ultimate goal for the year, to take a step in the right direction.”
Fantilli may have had his welcome-to-the-NHL moment on Saturday, when Washington’s T.J. Oshie leveled him with a big hit during the second period of an exhibition game. But he shot right up and went on to score the game-winning goal a period later.
“It was a good hit, and I knew it was coming,” Fantilli said. “The puck fumbled at me. I knew I was in a vulnerable situation. I knew I had to get that puck in, and I did my job. I got the puck in, but I had to eat a pretty good hit.”
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When the Blue Jackets drafted Fantilli with the No. 3 overall pick last summer, he wore a custom-made suit with scores of names written on the back of his vest. Those names represented all the people who impacted Fantilli’s young life, from coaches and teachers and teammates to relatives and friends.
He can’t wear the vest on Thursday, obviously, but he’s still in that mindset.
“Every day, I’m grateful for all those people,” Fantilli said. “I don’t forget that. Sometimes, things get crazy and you can’t stay in touch with everybody as much as you’d like. But I always tell them how much I appreciate the impact they’ve made on me.
“I’m excited to do what I love to do, to play my first game and hopefully make them all proud.”
(Top photo of Luca Fantilli, Dave D’Ammizio and Adam Fantilli: Courtesy of Dave D’Ammizio)