Fantilli's holdout is freezing the Blue Jackets' whole cap sheet

Adam Fantilli still doesn't have a contract, and the Columbus Blue Jackets still don't have their No. 1 center at camp. Per TSN's Darren Dreger, the 21-year-old has now missed four straight days of practice while the two sides trade comparables across the table.

That's the part that matters. This isn't a paperwork delay anymore. It's a standoff, and it's starting to cost Columbus more than one player.

Why the number is so hard

Fantilli put up 24 goals and 59 points in 82 games last season, the final year of his entry-level deal. He scored 31 the year before. On a Columbus roster that hasn't exactly buried teams with skill, those are real numbers.

The problem is the market got weird around him. Daily Faceoff laid out the comparables: Leo Carlsson landed five years at $18 million a season after Anaheim matched Philadelphia's offer sheet. Connor Bedard got five years at $15 million. Cutter Gauthier is at $13 million. Ryan Leonard sits at $10.5 million.

Every one of those is a short-term deal with a big annual hit. That's the new pattern. The seven-year bridge to peace doesn't exist right now.

GM Don Waddell told NHL.com in mid-September that talks were still alive: "when you're talking, you'll eventually find a deal." He's also said Columbus wants term, and Daily Faceoff reported an eight-year deal is off the table. So the team wants years, the player wants dollars, and neither side is blinking yet.

The Marchenko problem

Here's where it gets expensive. Per Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast, as relayed by Pro Hockey Rumors, Columbus can't make its other roster calls until it knows Fantilli's number.

The biggest of those calls is Kirill Marchenko. He's in the last year of a three-year, $11.55 million deal with a $3.85 million cap hit. He scored 27 goals and 67 points in 76 games last season and has 58 goals over the past two years. Dreger has floated a next contract near $12 million a season.

Pro Hockey Rumors puts the Jackets' cap space at roughly $11 million. Pay Fantilli what the market says, and there may not be room to keep Marchenko. Trade Marchenko now, and you're selling a 27-goal winger without knowing what you can afford to take back. Friedman's read is that Columbus may wait until the season starts before deciding.

Ferda take

Waddell is right that talking usually ends in a deal. But every day Fantilli sits, the leverage shifts to the player. He's 21, he's the franchise center, and the team can't build the rest of its lineup around a blank line on the cap sheet.

The smart play is a five-year deal in the Bedard neighborhood and a quick handshake. The Jackets didn't spend three years developing this kid to have him watch camp from a hotel.

And there's a Florida angle here, too. Every dollar that goes to Fantilli is a dollar that pushes Marchenko closer to the market. Bill Zito has never been shy about shopping when a winger like that gets loose.

What's next

Dreger still expects a deal before the regular season opens. Until it lands, the Blue Jackets are a team with a hole at center and a very expensive question on the wing.