The Athletic's Aaron Portzline (9/23/26)

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Oilers NOW with Bob Stauffer 15 min 4 speakers 8 chapters transcribed just now

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What is the context for the Blue Jackets’ contract talks with Adam Fantilli?

Aaron Portzline 0:00

Hey, it's Bob Stauffer. I just wanted to let you know that you can listen to Oilers Now ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime.

Aiden Ganim 0:09

Aidan Gannon with you on today's show. Bob Stauffer out at an event, so I'm sitting in the captain's chair today. It is 4.35 in oil country. How about the Columbus Blue Jackets? They are in an interesting, interesting spot right now, particularly with two top six players, namely Adam Fantilli and Kirill Marchenko. Marchenko is on contract but there's been a lot of conversation about extension and how that's worked out and we haven't had much clarity and Fantelli remains unsigned there's a chance that you know he might not be playing hockey at the start of the year so I felt like it was important to get the facts straight here which is why I'm bringing in from the athletic Aaron Portsline he writes on the Columbus Blue Jackets Aaron I appreciate you taking some time to join us today

Aiden Ganim 0:53

Yeah, my pleasure. Thank you for having me. Yeah, of course. Let's get right into it. I mean, this Adam Fantilli situation, I just want to get an overall view on it and how it's worked out. Obviously, expected to be the one-scene Columbus, so it's a very important topic for the group.

Aaron Portzline 1:12

Yeah, I mean, you know, I've been saying this for a while now. Other than having some turmoil with their Norris Trophy defensemen, other than going right to the doors of the arbitration hearing before settling with their number one goalie, other than having their 30 or 40 goal scorer, Kirill Marchenko, make it clear that he's not going to sign an extension, and other than not having the number one center signed a week into training camp, everything's been smooth around here. Oh, geez. Yeah. I mean, it's crazy.

How are the Blue Jackets weighing a short‑term bridge deal versus a long‑term extension for Fantilli?

Aaron Portzline 1:49

Now, as of tomorrow, it'll be another second week of no Adam Fantilia training camp. I can tell you they're talking. That's always a good sign. There's no deal there if you don't talk. But they've had quite a bridge to gap here. So I don't know how close it is, if there's real movement here. Things would have to get serious here pretty quick. The regular season for Columbus starts next Thursday. Other teams start before that. But There's not too much time here before they've got to get him into camp, get him up to speed, so that he would be able to play when they open on October 1st.

Aiden Ganim 2:27

What do you think the main stopgap has been for Fantillion signing this extension? Is he looking at the younger players signing these absolutely absorbent contracts and saying, hey, I want my fair share of that, I'm an important piece to my team, or is there another factor at play here?

Aaron Portzline 2:42

Well, of course he's doing that. I do think it's been a strange summer. I mean, when Leo Carlson signs the $18 million offer sheet, the player goes, oh, well, okay, well, the number goes up a little bit there. And the team says, well, you don't have an offer sheet. And he still doesn't have an offer sheet, by the way. So offer sheets do sort of take things into a different level. When Conor Bedard, his numbers, first of all, let me say that Adam Fantilli's numbers are very similar to Leo Carlson's. Very similar. Conor Bernard's numbers are better than both of theirs, and he signs for 15. So what does that say where Adam Fantilli should be? 13, 13.5? Yeah. And then you get the Cutter-Gauthier deal. So all of that's been there.

Aaron Portzline 3:27

I think it's always money, whatever people tell you. But I think the Blue Jackets have tried to get longer term. And with longer term, if you're from Fantilli's camp, you're saying if I'm giving up yet another year of UFA, five years gives up one, six years we give up two, then the number needs to go up, up, because the salary cap is going up astronomically throughout this league. So I think it's the moving parts of this that they're just – trying to find if this is the number you need per year, what is the term, and why can't you live with this term? Maybe look at the numbers now and change that number. So I think there's too many moving parts here, which is why they haven't come to a deal so quickly.