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Thank you for stopping by to check out Adam Fantilli’s scouting report. Chances are you’re a fan of the Anaheim Ducks, who own the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft on Wednesday night. Odds are the Ducks will land Fantilli, the center out of Michigan University. If that’s the case, you’ll want to get up to speed on what Anaheim is getting in its newest roster addition. Below we’ll go over the scouting report for Fantilli.
2023 NHL Draft: Adam Fantilli Scouting Report
Who is Adam Fantilli?
While Fantilli attended school in the United States, he grew up in Canada. The 18-year-old stands 6-foot-2 and is from Toronto, Ontario. He competed for Canada at both the World Junior Championship and World Championship this season. Aside from that, all he did at Michigan was post 65 points (30 goals) in 36 games to win the Hobey Baker award as most outstanding player in college hockey. He’s just the third freshman ever to win the award, joining Paul Kariya and Jack Eichel (who we’ll get to a bit later).
Highlights
To put this in easy terms, Fantilli is going to make, uh, stuff happen on both ends of the ice. We wanted to use another word there but this is a family website. Fantilli is your prototypical two-way, top-line NHL center. He has good size and skating ability. What really stands out is his hockey sense. You know those NHL players where the plays kind of follow them? When it feels like every second they are on the ice scoring is happening? That feels like what Fantilli will bring. He also brings leadership qualities that stem a lot from his relentlessness. He’s not afraid to get dirty on the forecheck, win a puck battle, make a play to the net or set up a teammate for a scoring opportunity. Those are the types of players who win the NHL. Plain and simple.
NHL player comparison
There are a lot of players you can look to when thinking of Fantilli. The easiest being Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews. He also took the college route after growing up in Canada. Fantilli opted for the USHL rather than play in high school; Toews played for Shattuck-Saint Mary’s in Minnesota before attending the University of North Dakota.
Anyway, Toews was a leader, two-way player and perennial Selke finalist and won multiple Stanley Cup titles. Toews wasn’t the most skilled player but made up for it with his hockey sense, skating and size. It would have been interesting to see Fantilli go to Chicago and sort of replace Toews in a lot of ways. Instead, the Hawks will get Connor Bedard and the Ducks should get Fantilli.
Other players that come to mind are Eichel, Joe Pavelski, Anze Kopitar and Patrice Bergeron. So basically a ton of All-Star centers. It’s definitely good company. Eichel feels fitting since this draft feels a lot like 2015, when McDavid went 1 and Eichel was 2. Fantilli’s game resembles Pavelski in terms of determination and potential leadership. If I had to pick one player, Kopitar feels like the most fair.