BSH 2023 Community Draft Board, No. 2: Adam Fantilli

We’re keeping things rolling on the draft board, and our second overall pick is … a player who would absolutely go first overall in most other drafts.

Adam Fantilli is coming off of a historic season. An 18 year old playing in one of the more difficult college conferences with Michigan in the Big Ten, Fantilli put up a dominant performance, with 30 goals and 65 points in 36 games played, a campaign which earned him the Hobey Baker Award this spring. He’s a tremendous offensive threat with true game-breaking talent, and one of the most exciting prospects in this year’s class.

Pre-Draft Rankings

No. 2 (NA skaters) by NHL Central Scouting
No. 2 by TSN/Bob McKenzie (mid-season)
No. 2 by EliteProspects
No. 2 by The Athletic/Corey Pronman
No. 2 by FCHockey

Statistics

What’s there to like?

There’s something magnetic about Fantilli’s game. That might sound overly sentimental, but it’s true. When I was planning to catch he and the Wolverines live, playing in the Allentown Regional back in March, a friend who had seen him play against Ohio State – who she was covering – made a point, something to the effect of “I rarely pay too close of attention to specific opposing players during a game, but with Fantilli, I couldn’t help it. He just always draws your eye to him.” And this was my viewing experience to a tee.

The biggest weapon Fantilli has, which comes as little surprise given those scoring numbers, is his shot. WIth good power and a quick release, he’s able to beat goalies clean from range.

He also has a real nose for the net, and it’s afraid to get to the dirty areas to make plays. His good hands in tight and ability to protect the puck in traffic makes him a real threat in these high danger areas.

Fantilli has stellar offensive instincts, and a real ability to make something out of nothing. Not only does he have the vison and skill to take advantage of any small gap he’s given, but with his strength, speed, and compete level, he’s often seen just straight up outworking the competition on chances like this.

Even when those efforts don’t immediately result in a goal, there’s a lot to like in the way he’s able to stick with plays and turn them into dangerous chances.

Fantilli’s offensive toolkit is, in short, incredibly well rounded. He has a shot that allows him to beat opponents from just about anywhere on the ice. He can use that well after creating a bit of space for himself, or after making use of his excellent, quick catch and release shot. But if those are the ends of the offensive generation sequences, the rest of his game does well to feed that. He has good power to his stride, and good straight line speed in transition as a result, but without being overly heavy, which allows him to cut well and be ellusive in traffic. He forechecks well and is able to force a good volume of turnovers with the pressure he creates. And while he’s still growing into his frame (he’s 6’2 and 195 pounds now), the strength is still there, nad he’s willing to lean into that frame and bring a bit of physical edge as well.

He’s a player that can slow the game down to his liking, but perhaps even more exciting, can create pace in the other direction, can speed up the game, and that makes him a constant threat when he’s on the ice.

Fantilli was dominant at the college level this year, full stop. And while it remains to be seen whether he’ll be leaving college for next season – at the moment, the safe bet feels like he will – it’s clear already that he’s not far away from being NHL ready already.

What’s not to like?

With Fantilli, for an underage freshman playing in the NCAA, it’s almost shocking how complete his game is. The small critiques of his game are just about what you’d expect from a still developing 17 year old player – needs to add some weight and strength, would like to see him continue to develop the defensive side of his game (there’s some untapped potential there yet) – but no real red flags.

As we mentioned above, Fantilli shows a real willingness, if not eagerness, to step up and try to make a play out of nothing all on his own during games, and while he’s skilled enough the he can make some real magic happens sometimes, other times this ends up in him overhandling himself into trouble, trying to force plays. The good news is that these types of plays are coming fewer and farther between, but we have still seen them crop up from time to time (thinking in this moment of when the Wolverines’ offense was being bottled up in their second regional game against Penn State). But the way that Fantilli has been able to evolve and learn to pick his spots better has been encouraging – he’ll be just fine in the long run.

How would he fit in the Flyers’ system?

A player like Fantilli is, frankly, exactly what the Flyers need. From a pure positional standpoint, as a natural center who shows every sign of being able to stick at center at the professional levels, helps bolster a position where the Flyers are thin at both the NHL level and in the pipeline.

But from a stylistic perspective, the fit would be great as well. While Fantilli’s shot is one of the elements of his game that pops the most, it’s not as though he’s Just A Shooter, and his skillset isn’t redundant in the face of the other shooters – Owen Tippett, Tyson Foerster, Cutter Gauthier – who are already in the system. His vision, his creativity, his overall puck skill make him an effective distributor, and he would still be able to feed those other pure shooters like the team would need. He’s an incredibly skilled player across the board, and that’s exactly what the Flyers sorely need.

Can the Flyers actually get him?

Unless, by some miracle, the Flyers are able to put together a package which would entice the Anaheim Ducks into giving up the second overall pick for this year, it’s going to be a no on that one. Fantilli is an outstanding player, and the chances of him falling out of the top three, much less all the way to seven, are slim to none. So it goes.

What Scouts Are Saying

Fantilli is no consolation prize. He’s a big, strong, powerful center who takes pucks from the wall to the interior with force, ease and speed — the kind of player every team covets. He can beat you along the wall on the cycle. He can beat you carrying the puck in rotations around the perimeter of the offensive zone. He can beat you by pushing through lanes to the middle third, driving the net, or dropping a shoulder to take space that isn’t there. He can beat you flying out wide. He has regularly blown me away in viewings these last couple of years (at Hockey Canada’s showcase two summers ago, in games where he looked like a man among boys in the USHL, and again at various points throughout his historic, Hobey Baker-winning freshman year at Michigan). – Scott Wheeler, The Athletic

“At almost 6-foot-2, Fantilli is a talented big man in the middle who is both skillful and competitive. He’s an excellent skater who drives play, competes hard, does a lot of heavy lifting in the hard areas of the ice and is not without well-above-average offensive skills.” – Bob McKenzie, TSN

We’ll make one addition to the poll, and it’s yet another forward. Zach Benson, hello!

“Benson has a ton of creativity and offense in his game. He makes high-end skill plays routinely, he’s one of the better passers in junior and projects to be a major asset on an NHL power play. Benson lacks ideal size at 5-foot-9, but he’s relentless in puck battles often coming out with the puck despite his frame. He’s a responsible, detailed defensive player who is an asset without the puck. His frame, combined with a lack of separation speed, is a concern, though, for his NHL projection even though he’s got good quickness in tight. There is a fair amount of risk on his projection, but his strong compete and tremendous skill plus track record of scoring, makes you think there is still a very good chance he can become a quality top-six wing in the NHL.” – Corey Pronman, The Athletic

Who should be No. 3 on the 2023 Community Draft Board?

Previously on the 2023 Community Draft Board…

1. Connor Bedard
2. Adam Fantilli
3. ???