The Columbus Blue Jackets signed centre Adam Fantilli to a six-year, $82.5-million contract extension Thursday, ending an offseason impasse and locking up one of the franchise’s cornerstone players through the 2031-32 season.
The deal carries an average annual value of $13.75 million. Fantilli, 21, was the third overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft and has posted 140 points, 67 goals and 73 assists, in 213 career regular-season games, including a career-high 59 points last season. General manager Don Waddell called locking up a player of Fantilli’s stature for six years “huge for this franchise.” Fantilli said the lengthy negotiation made for “a long offseason” but that he does not feel behind heading into training camp, adding that a playoff berth is “nonnegotiable this year” for Columbus.
The hockey world also paused to remember George Gillett Jr., who died Thursday at age 87. Gillett owned the Montreal Canadiens and the Bell Centre from January 2001 until selling the team to Geoff Molson’s ownership group in June 2009, a tenure in which the club went 254-198-52 with 18 ties and made the playoffs five times. He oversaw the arena’s renaming to the Bell Centre in 2002 and was on hand for Saku Koivu’s emotional return from cancer treatment that same year. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman called Gillett “a friend whose company I always enjoyed, whose counsel was wise, and whose energy was contagious,” while Molson said Gillett “immersed himself in the Montreal community and was appreciated by everyone.”
On the ice Thursday, San Jose Sharks prospect Ivar Stenberg scored a hat trick in a 10-0 rout of the Anaheim Ducks, with his third goal in the third period bringing hats raining onto the ice. Stenberg’s first came off strong defensive work that sprung a rush the other way, and his second came on a stretch-pass sequence that sent him and fellow prospect Michael Misa in alone. The performance continued a strong training camp for the Sharks’ prospect pool ahead of the club’s roster cuts.
Elsewhere, Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin returned to practice with his teammates Thursday, a step his camp is treating as encouraging as he works his way back into game shape before the regular season begins. Pittsburgh Penguins forward Andrei Kuzmenko, meanwhile, has stepped away from the team following the death of his father.
The NHL regular season opens Sept. 29, with Carolina at Florida and Toronto at Montreal among the night’s marquee matchups.
