Report: Columbus Blue Jackets Adam Fantilli to return for Team Canada at World Championships
Blue Jackets center Adam Fantilli is returning to the ice.
After being sidelined for the final 33 games of his rookie season due to a calf laceration he suffered in a 4-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Jan. 28, Fantilli will join Team Canada for the upcoming World Championships according to The Hockey News.
“I only played 49 games this year,” Fantilli told THN. “I have to get my game going. That’s my concern.”
In those 49 games, the third-overall pick in the 2024 NHL draft recorded 12 goals – tied for sixth-best on the team with Johnny Gaudreau and Alexandre Texier – and 15 assists.
Last season at the World Championships, Fantilli scored Canada's game-winning goal against Latvia in the semifinal before winning gold. He finished the tournament with three points in 10 games.
Fantilli's teammates on Team Canada will include Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard, and the team's GM is former Blue Jacket Rick Nash, who currently serves as Columbus' director of player development. The tournament runs May 10-26 in Czechia.
After the 2023-24 season, Fantilli said playing for Canada at the World Championships was something he would "love" to do.
"It's just a matter of getting healthy,” Fantilli said. “I only got 49 games in, so any chance I can get to play more hockey would be great. (Gaining) more experience in that pro-style setting as much as possible and learning as much as I can from older guys is where I’m at.”
Get more Columbus Blue Jackets talk on the Cannon Fodder podcast
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Adam Fantilli, Columbus Blue Jackets center, to play for Canada at World Championships
