Over the weekend Michigan Hockey got the bad news we were all fearing: superstar Adam Fantilli signed with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Yeah, I know. FANtastic day for Adam Fantilli ��@RuoffMortgage | #CBJhttps://t.co/IAgPIN3Oix — Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) July 1, 2023 I wrote about the NHL Draft last Thursday and speculated that Fantilli signing with Columbus was the more likely scenario. At the time, the reporting was that Fantilli would speak with the execs in Columbus about his future at their development camp this weekend, which seemed to give the fanbase a bit of hope. Evidently that conversation was Adam saying "I want to play in the NHL" and Jarmo Kekäläinen going "cool" (okay I might be paraphrasing), because the signing got done in a hurry on Saturday morning. In all likelihood, both the player and the team are very happy with this decision and that leads us to today's exit post. Adam Fantilli was one of the best players in Michigan Hockey history and he deserves to get this look back at his career in a Michigan uniform. Adam Fantilli arrived at Michigan last fall as a phenom out of the USHL's Chicago Steel, joining his much-less-heralded older brother Luca in the 2022 recruiting class. He had scored at historically great rates for a 17-year-old in that league, putting him on a similar pace to such past players as Thomas Vanek, Kyle Connor, and Jack Eichel. In the season preview, I shared those comparables and noted that all three of those players scored at least 60 points in their freshman season. The expectation, if Fantilli was to be the player his USHL numbers indicated and his draft stock suggested, was for him to be one of the very best players in college hockey as a true freshman. He was. [David Wilcomes] Fantilli was a star right away at Michigan. He scored four points in his first series against Lindenwood, picked up four more the next weekend against BU, and then got his first hat trick amid a seven-point weekend in week #3 against Lake State. There was never any question that he would be Michigan's 1C or Michigan's best offensive player. All that had been lost by the mega-outgoing NHL class of Beniers, Bordeleau, Brisson and the others could be patched up by the singular greatness of #19. Despite being a freshman, Fantilli never had a slow down or a slump where the going got tough. Over the entire season, Fantilli had one more point-less game (3) than he had hat tricks (2) (!!!!!!). A period from late November into early January when he had 2-3-5 in six games was the closest thing Fantilli got to a "slump". Of course, he followed that stretch up with 6-11-17 in six games just for the hell of it. He drove a line featuring himself, Gavin Brindley, and Rutger McGroarty that routinely tilted the ice on the opposition. Both of those players are good players, a lottery pick and an early second rounder, yet it was always Fantilli that drove that line. Along the way, Fantilli was invited to play on Team Canada's roster at the World Juniors, scoring five points in seven games and winning a gold medal. It was a modest and rather quiet performance that was overshadowed by the breahtaking dominance of Connor Bedard but was perfectly in line with other players from the past who played in the WJC (remember, a U20 tournament) in their draft-eligible season and went on to be great NHLers. [AFTER THE JUMP: what happened after the WJC]