Adam Fantilli appeared on former NHLer John Scott’s podcast yesterday. In the episode of Dropping The Gloves he talks about all sorts of things, but he was immediately asked about the situation with Patrik Laine.

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Fantilli said of Laine: “Yeah, he obviously had some personal stuff that he needed to take care of. That’s why he came into the program and I’ve talked to him and he seems like he’s doing great, he seems like he’s ready to get back in the game and get back into the swing of things. He felt like he needed to change his environment. He understood that. Patty did a lot for me when I came on the team. He let me stay with him, took me out to dinner. So he’s been a great teammate to me. I wish them all the best, honestly.”

He was also asked about GM Don Waddell’s comments about Laine not wanting to come back into the CBJ locker room. Fantilli said, “I don’t really know. Because we have such a great group of guys in our locker room. We have a great time at the rink. Maybe going back to the beginning of the year with everything that could have happened with the previous coach that we had. That’s the only thing I can think of because our captains have done a great job of making it a very welcoming environment. I can speak to my experience anyway, and there’s never been anything that I know of that made him feel uncomfortable in the locker room.”

Did Adam Fantilli hint that Mike Babcock was to blame for the Laine situation? John Scott made a joke about Fantilli blaming him, but could there be some truth to that? Since the Babcock debacle, nothing has ever been released about which players were involved. Was Scott reading between the lines? Is it possible he made that comment to former coach Pascal Vincent who cut Laine?

This is an excellent interview and you can listen to the full podcast below. He talks about serious stuff for just a few minutes and then goes into his life and other stuff, including how much he loves Captain Boone Jenner and thinks he’s the most underrated player on the team.

Adam Fantilli is a great young guy and will be looking to take the next step this upcoming season. He will most likely be on the second line behind the newly acquired Sean Monahan. New coach Dean Evason should give Fantilli every opportunity to succeed.

Fantilli can look forward to a good season.

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