Development camp notebook: Fantilli gets off to a good start

With all four days of Blue Jackets development camp in the books, it's hard to decide what's most impressive about Adam Fantilli.

On the ice, the No. 3 overall pick in the draft one short week ago was impressive, capping a strong camp with a four-goal performance in Wednesday's battle for the Stinger Cup.

Off the ice, he did it all as well, gathering teammates for a pregame pep talk before the scrimmage, picking up pucks after practice sessions and signing every autograph he could all week.

"He's clearly very good, but the one thing I respect about him is his personality and how he gets everybody together," said Ohio State women's hockey coach Nadine Muzerall, who served as a guest coach at the camp. "He seems like a leader at such a young age. One of the coaches and I were watching, after one of the practices, him picking up the pucks. He's their No. 1 pick. I think he has really good characteristic traits of being a leader."

It didn't take Fantilli long to become a fan favorite, as kids lined up for his autograph each day and even chanted his name before he took the ice for Wednesday's scrimmage.

READ MORE ABOUT FANTILLI: First-round pick signs with CBJ | Fantilli, Brindley share a bond

Every player at the camp was generous with their time with fans and media, but it also was important to the team's most recent first-round draft pick to lead the way.

"I remember being a little kid and being in Toronto and having guys come through there, and I'd always want to stop and take a picture with them and watch them play," Fantilli said. "I was just happy that I was able to be that kind of guy and be able to return the favor and spend time with kids like that. Obviously the warm welcome has been amazing and I appreciate it, and I'm super excited to get back here in the fall."

On the ice, he showed the kind of skill one would expect from someone who posted 30 goals and 65 points in 36 games last season and won the Hobey Baker Award at the University of Michigan. Fantilli scored a "Michigan" lacrosse goal on the first day of dev camp, tallied between his legs at a later practice and scored on a series of consecutive shots during a 2-on-1 drill on the penultimate day of camp.

Development camp, of course, is a long way from making an impact at the NHL level. But through his first days in a Blue Jackets sweater, Fantilli showed there's a reason for the excitement that surrounds his draft choice.

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Now, Fantilli said he will spend a few days with family in Prince Edward Island and get in a few rounds of golf. After that, he'll get right back to training, but the respite will be nice after a busy couple of weeks.

"I'm trying to decompress a little bit, but it's been a lot of fun," he said. "It's been a whirlwind. I mean, going through the draft and coming here and then signing was obviously surreal for me, and to have my dad there and to have (Michigan teammate and CBJ second-round pick Gavin Brindley) there with me was awesome. I'm super excited to get back home and see my family for a bit."

Muzerall Makes An Impact

Fantilli had a fan in Muzerall, and it's fair to say the favor was returned.

"Obviously, her resume speaks for herself," Fantilli said. "I mean, what she has been able to do at OSU is awesome. And being on the ice with her and picking her brain and having a conversation with her, obviously she's world class. Just being on the ice with her, it was a lot of fun. I know she has a lot of knowledge to give us, so I was just trying to pay attention to what she says and have a lot of fun out there. I know she likes to have fun as well."

Muzerall was invited to join the camp as a coach for the first time after establishing herself as one of the top coaches in college hockey no matter the gender. Ohio State's program had never reached the NCAA tournament before Muzerall arrived in 2016, and since then the Buckeyes have won the 2022 NCAA championship, finished as runner-up last year, and also made the Frozen Four in 2018 and '21.

The invitation to coach at the camp was extended by Blue Jackets director of player development Rick Nash, who also pointed out to Fantilli and fellow Wolverines forward Gavin Brindley that Muzerall has more national titles in her possession than the U-M stars.

Muzerall said it was an honor to take part in the camp and said she left with some lessons learned as well.

"I think in hockey coaching, a lot of is just stealing drills, so I'm getting a lot of ideas," she said. "Tempo -- I think that's been a big thing for me, too, is the pace and moving from one thing to another quickly, which I think is really good. It keeps the kids on their toes. And just how they run things behind the scenes has been informative to me."

Jenna Buglioni is a senior-to-be for the Buckeyes and a member of Team Canada who traveled to OhioHealth Chiller North to watch her head coach in action.

"It's such a good opportunity for Coach Muzz," she said. "She's such a skilled coach. We see that every day, and it's really good for her to get an opportunity to come out here and show her stuff in an NHL organization. (The Blue Jackets) have been super good with our team and making sure that we feel involved and feel like we have a partnership with them.

"It's been really good to see her, and watching her today, she's a natural out there."

McBrayer Makes Dream Come True

Nathan McBrayer grew up in Dublin, spending plenty of days skating at Chiller North and attending Blue Jackets games at Nationwide Arena.

So you can imagine how excited the defenseman was to be invited to the development camp and have the chance to put on the Blue Jackets jersey in front of some of his childhood heroes coaching the camp.

"It's been awesome," McBrayer said. "I have been coming to Columbus games for as long as I remember, and some of the coaches out here, I've watched them play growing up. Now just being on the ice with them and skating around and joking around, it's pretty special."

Next up, McBrayer will have another opportunity of a lifetime. He's signed a national letter of intent to play college hockey at Ohio State, and he'll be a freshman this upcoming season.

Being able to check off two lifelong dreams -- wearing the union blue jersey and the scarlet and gray sweater in a few weeks' time -- is something McBrayer isn't taking for granted.

"If I was 6 years old thinking about this, it's crazy to think about how far I've come from when I was younger to now," he said.

A graduate of the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets program, McBrayer spent the past two seasons playing with Muskegon of the USHL, totaling a 9-44-53 line in 118 games. He also took part in Buffalo's development camp a year ago but said he felt much more comfortable this time around, especially since family and friends have been able to come out and watch.

"I feel good out there," he said. "Last year I went to Buffalo's dev camp and I was a little nervous, but this year, a second year, I know some of the coaches out there. I'm not really nervous this year. I'm pretty comfortable. I feel like I'm doing pretty good out there."

McBrayer also said he was happy to represent Ohio State at an event headlined in many ways by Fantilli and Brindley, Michigan standouts who were the Jackets' top two picks in the most recent draft.

"I love letting everybody know that I'm going to Ohio State," he said with a smile. "We've been throwing some shots at each other a little bit. They're great guys, though. I'm looking forward to getting the rivalry going next year."

5th Line Represents

The stands at Chiller North were full for yesterday's scrimmage, showing there's a fair bit of excitement around the Blue Jackets after what appears to be another excellent draft.

"Obviously everybody probably was somewhere for Fourth of July," Fantilli said. "The fact that they got out of bed and came here to watch us play, it was awesome. I know all the guys on the ice appreciated the support and appreciated people being in the stands. We had a lot of fun out there and I hope they did too."

Team Ruutu/Hardt -- coached by CBJ European development coach Jarkko Ruutu and guest coach Nichlas Hardt from Denmark -- came back to win by a 9-8 score in a shootout over Team Muzerall/Dorsett. Hunter McKown scored the winning goal in a shootout after two 15-minute periods of 4-on-4 play and a 12-minute 3-on-3 session.

The winning team got two goals in regulation from McKown and William Whitelaw and single tallies from Justin Pearson, Denton Mateychuk, Joey Musa and Jordan Dumais. Fantilli's four goals led the losing squad, while James Fisher and Martin Rysavy scored twice apiece.