Blue Jackets Monday Gathering: Latest on Fantilli, Greaves and Sillinger contracts

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A collection of notes, insights, ruminations and did-you-knows gathered throughout the week that was for the Columbus Blue Jackets:

Item No. 1: Tick, tick, tick

It’s getting late in the summer to still have three players unsigned, but that’s where the Blue Jackets stand with forwards Adam Fantilli and Cole Sillinger, and goaltender Jet Greaves, as the offseason works its way toward late July.

That’ll change this week, at least with one player.

Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell said contract talks have remained amicable and active with all three players, but here’s a look at what we know about each of the three negotiations and where the process stands.

Jet Greaves

We’re listing Greaves first because he’s the most pressing matter. His arbitration hearing is set for Thursday in Toronto.

The Blue Jackets and Greaves can avoid that hearing by reaching terms on a new contract any time between now and the point at which the arbitrator begins deliberating after listening to both sides’ arguments.

If arbitration is necessary, Greaves will have a new contract by Saturday, as the ruling is due 48 hours after the hearing. (Yes, one way or another, one of the unsigned Blue Jackets will be under contract at this point next week.)

The Blue Jackets have the right to suggest a one- or two-year ruling, but will seek a one-year contract so that Greaves isn’t walked directly into unrestricted free agency after the 2027-28 season.

Goaltenders are notoriously tough to value, and you could understand strong arguments on both sides of the table.

Greaves had a very good season in 2025-26, his first full campaign in the NHL. By some metrics, he was a top-10 goaltender in the league. No question, he’s now the Blue Jackets’ No. 1 option in net. Those guys get paid.

But, on the other hand, he’s had only one strong season in the NHL. Greaves, 25, wasn’t a starter until this season, and some aren’t yet ready to stamp him as an NHL-level No. 1.

The Blue Jackets are hoping to sign Greaves to a long-term deal.

“Our whole goal is trying to get an extension, a multiyear extension,” Waddell said. “If not, we’ll get to arbitration and get a deal, and nobody gets made because somebody else makes the decision for you.”

If Greaves does end up in arbitration, he and the Blue Jackets could try again to sign a long-term extension, but that contract signing would have to wait until after Jan. 1, 2027, per the rules of arbitration.

That still leaves plenty of time before Greaves would become a restricted free agent again next summer.

Adam Fantilli

Leo Carlsson, the No. 2 pick in the 2023 draft, signed a five-year, $90 million offer sheet with the Philadelphia Flyers that the Anaheim Ducks opted to match earlier this month.

Connor Bedard, the No. 1 pick in that draft, signed a five-year, $75 million contract with the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.

Next up: Fantilli, the Blue Jackets’ No. 3 pick that year.

If Carlsson’s offer sheet threatened to “blow up” the market for young RFAs, perhaps Bedard’s — at a far lesser value despite significantly better production than Carlsson — might tilt it back the other direction.

At the least, it might help set the parameters of a deal between the Blue Jackets and Fantilli, who is four years away from UFA status.

“It’s hard for me to comment on other teams,” Waddell said when asked what impact Bedard’s terms might have on Fantilli’s talks.

“Any time you have an offer sheet, that’s a one-off. What teams do after that, the decisions they’re going to make … it’s not them being worried about an offer sheet, but what the player’s worth is, not only today, but going forward.”

Waddell said he spoke with Fantilli’s agent, Pat Brisson, every day last week, including a “back-and-forth” on Friday. But he hadn’t spoken with Brisson, who is also Greaves’ agent, since Bedard’s new contract was announced on Saturday.

A league source, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss aspects of a private negotiation, told The Athletic that an eight-year deal — the longest term available in the NHL until the rules change on Sept. 15 — is not likely to be Fantilli’s new term. The hope is for a term between five and seven years, which would carry Fantilli into his unrestricted free-agency years.

The most likely, it would seem, is five years. That’s what both Bedard and Carlsson signed for, each giving up one year of UFA status.

Cole Sillinger

Like Greaves, Sillinger filed for arbitration earlier this month. His hearing is set for next Monday (July 27) in Toronto.

A league source, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss aspects of a private negotiation, told The Athletic that the greatest difficulty in these talks has been the term. The Blue Jackets, who see Sillinger as one of the club’s integral players, want to sign him to a long-term contract, one that would extend into his UFA years.

Sillinger, however, is looking for a short-term contract, hoping to return to the table in a shorter amount of time.

What this might come down to is whether or not you think Sillinger’s offensive game is going to awaken.

Sillinger’s speed and tenacity lead to plenty of scoring chances. He was sixth on the club in shots on goal last season (136), but his 5.9 shooting percentage ranked ahead of only defensemen Erik Gudbranson and Ivan Provorov among players with 30 or more shots on goal.

The 23-year-old had 16 goals as a rookie in 2021-22, but hasn’t matched those numbers since. It’s possible that both sides think Sillinger, who found a home next to center Charlie Coyle last season, is due to start scoring more.

If you’re the Blue Jackets, of course you’d want to lock him up. If you’re Sillinger, you might like to make a better argument for yourself before you return to the negotiating table in search of a long-term deal.

The hunch here is that this one gets settled. Intangibles aren’t allowed to be part of an arbitration argument, only data-supported arguments.

To appreciate Sillinger’s game is to admire his intangibles … his hustle, his willingness to stand up for teammates, his physical play, his emerging leadership, etc. The hard numbers make for a more difficult argument on his behalf.

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Item No. 2: The ’84’

The NHL released its 2026-27 schedule on Thursday, and the Blue Jackets were mostly pleased. They have fewer back-to-backs, more weekend games, no mammoth road trips and a chance to get off to a strong start.

Some highlights:

Early opener: the season opens Oct. 1 at home against the Buffalo Sabres, the earliest opener in franchise history. The 2009-10 season started on Oct. 3, and three other seasons started on Oct. 4. A September start can’t be far away, right? The NHL season starts with five games on Sept. 29.

84 games: the early start is due, in part, to the regular season expanding from 82 to 84 games, the first time the NHL has played an 84-game regular season since 1993-94, seven seasons before Columbus joined the league

Home cookin’: the Blue Jackets open with three straight, five of their first six and seven of their first nine game in Nationwide Arena. The Jackets are 46-23-13 (.640) at home over the past two seasons, tied for 11th in the NHL over that span.

Lighter load: even with the added games, the schedule will feel lighter. If you take away the 22-day Olympic break last winter, the Blue Jackets played 82 games in 166 days during the 2025-26 season. The Jackets get an eight-day break (Jan. 31 to Feb. 7) this season, which includes the All-Star Game break, but otherwise they’ll play 84 games in 184 days. That’s a huge difference.

Back-to-backs: the Blue Jackets have 13 back-to-backs on the schedule, down from 16 last season. Three of those back-to-backs are entirely on the road, while five have the Blue Jackets playing at home and then on the road the following night. None of the back-to-backs come after Feb. 27. Pretty management, really. During the 2006-07 season, the Jackets, then in the Western Conference, had 21 back-to-backs, accounting for half of their schedule.

Road trips: None of the Blue Jackets’ road trips is longer than four games. They have four trips of that length. The dreaded Western Canada trip (Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver) is in the middle of January, which isn’t ideal. But the California trip (San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim) is in early March. Yeah, ideal.

Homestand: the longest homestand is a five-game stretch from Feb. 20 to March 1, in which the Blue Jackets play Nashville, New Jersey, Carolina and twice against the New York Islanders. That will lead the Blue Jackets right up to the NHL trade deadline.

Boone’s return: After playing 808 games in a Blue Jackets’ sweater, former captain Boone Jenner, who signed a free-agent deal with the Washington Capitals, will play against his old mates for the first time on Dec. 26 in Washington. He’ll return to Nationwide for the first time days later on Dec. 31. That game will start at 2 p.m., though, which isn’t exactly New Year’s “Eve.”

Item No. 3: Snacks

• The Pittsburgh Penguins last week ended their affiliation agreement with ECHL Wheeling after a 29-year run, leaving two of the ECHL franchises — the Wheeling (W.Va) Nailers and the Norfolk (Va.) Admirals — with an NHL affiliation. Waddell confirmed to The Athletic that the Blue Jackets have discussed affiliation with both franchises for the 2026-27 season and beyond. The Blue Jackets have not had an ECHL affiliate since pairing with Kalamazoo during the 2022-23 season. Stay tuned.

• Why have an ECHL affiliate? It’s a fair question. Neither side benefits financially from an agreement, but the ECHL franchise gets the cache of being linked to an NHL organization and an NHL organization gets a place, when necessary, for its AHL extras and fifth goaltenders to play. In recent seasons, AHL Cleveland has dispersed players across the ECHL when they weren’t able to get playing time, but that never happens to a player who is considered an NHL prospect. The trickiest position is goaltending, and the Blue Jackets experienced that last season. Depth goaltender Nolan LaLonde, who signed an entry-level deal back in 2022, needed a place to play, and the Blue Jackets found him a spot with ECHL Toledo. But Toledo, which is affiliated with the Detroit Red Wings and Grand Rapids Griffins, had their own goalies who needed to play and received priority. LaLonde played only 22 games in Toledo, despite going 11-4-3 with a .903 save percentage.

• Of the two ECHL possibilities, Wheeling would seem to be the heavy favorite. A big reason: if Cleveland needs to summon a player from the ECHL quickly, Wheeling is only a 165-mile drive to Cleveland, while Norfolk (560 miles) would require two flights. There are no direct flights from Norfolk to Cleveland.

• Former Blue Jackets assistant coach Brad Berry, who was part of Scott Arniel’s staff in Columbus, is expected to be named coach of the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms, according to Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald. Berry, 61, was head coach at North Dakota from 2015-25.

• Former Blue Jackets forward Matt Calvert, who dabbled in player representation after he retired in 2021, has joined the Nashville Predators as a development coach, working specifically with the organization’s young forwards. The connection there is obvious: Predators GM Chris MacFarland was an assistant GM in Columbus when Calvert was drafted and started his career, and he was an assistant GM in Colorado when Calvert signed with the Avs as a free agent.

• The Monday Gatherings are taking a break for the rest of summer. The day-to-day coverage won’t stop, and there’s plenty for the Blue Jackets to do before training camp. But the Gathering will return in mid-September.