Adam Fantilli is about to out-earn Connor McDavid, and the Blue Jackets are hearing about it this morning.
The 21-year-old center's new deal carries a $13,750,000 cap hit. McDavid sits at $12,500,000 in Edmonton.
A post from @NHL_Muse sent hockey Twitter spinning overnight, noting that McDavid has piled up more points in one season than Fantilli has over his entire NHL career.
That career line reads 213 games and 140 points, which looks rough next to McDavid. But whose numbers don't?
The comparison that should sting more lives inside the Blue Jackets' own room. Zachary Werenski carries a $9,583,333 cap hit.
So the club now pays its young center $4,166,667 more per season than its highest-paid defenseman. Let that settle for a second.
Only Leo Carlsson, Kirill Kaprizov, Connor Bedard and Leon Draisaitl carry bigger numbers league-wide. Draisaitl clears Fantilli by a mere $250,000.
Fantilli's goal total dipped just as his price tag climbed
This one lands on Don Waddell's desk. The numbers in that viral post show Fantilli scoring 31 goals in 2024-25, then 24 last season.
He also went minus-13 last season, a year after finishing plus-4. The trend line bent the wrong way.
His points did climb to 59. That's the case Columbus will make, and it carries some weight.
It's still an overpay today. Waddell is paying for the 2028 version of this player and hoping the current one doesn't embarrass the contract first.
Think of it as buying a house at peak price because the town promised a new school nearby. Great deal, if the school ever gets built.
Rick Bowness, hired in January, now coaches a center whose every quiet night will be priced out loud. That's a different kind of pressure behind the bench.
The preseason, at least, is cooperating. The Blue Jackets blanked the Penguins 4-0 Thursday night, with Kirill Marchenko scoring shorthanded.
Next comes a Saturday road game in Detroit, then the season opener at home against the Sabres on October 1.
Mike Babcock's Oilers visit Columbus on December 27, and the Blue Jackets make the return trip to Edmonton on January 15. Expect the cap graphic on both broadcasts.
McDavid will never have to explain his number. Fantilli starts explaining his the first time he goes three games without a point.
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And if that goal total slides again, who wears it first in Columbus, the player or the man who signed him?
Did Don Waddell overpay Adam Fantilli at $13.75 million?
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