The Saginaw Spirit took a chance in 2020, picking Adam Fantilli with their first-round pick knowing that Fantilli had committed to play for the University of Michigan.
Saginaw Spirit general manager Dave Drinkill announced Monday that the Spirit exercised the Ontario Hockey League’s “defected player” rule regarding Adam Fantilli, trading his rights to the North Bay Battalion.
Under the rule, Saginaw will receive a first-round pick in the 2022 draft, one spot after the player was originally drafted. The Spirit took Fantilli with the 18th overall pick and will receive the 19th overall pick in 2022 as compensation for the player failing to report to the team.
“I would like to thank the Fantilli family for taking the time to consider playing for the Saginaw Spirit, but we respect their decision to play this season in Chicago for the USHL, and then the University of Michigan the following year,” Drinkill said in a press release. “We knew when we drafted Adam that he had different high-end hockey options available to him, but still felt it was the right choice to take him at pick 18 in the 2020 draft.
“Going into the pick, we knew if he decided not to join our organization, we would receive a first-round pick back in compensation from the league by moving his playing rights and activating the defected player rule put in place, which we did today.”
The trade to North Bay nets Saginaw a sixth-round pick in 2022, which originally belonged to Sarnia. Also, the Spirit could receive up to four conditional picks if Fantilli ever plays in the OHL.
If Fantilli ever plays in an OHL game, Saginaw will receive Kingston’s second-round pick in 2024 and North Bay’s second-round pick in 2025. If he plays in one OHL game during the 2021-22 or 2022-23 season, the Spirit would also receive Owen Sound’s third-round pick in 2023 and their own fourth-round pick in 2024.
The Saginaw Spirit will now have two first-round picks in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection.
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