Adam Fantilli takes a heavy shot at Kirill Marchenko before tonight's game against the Leafs

Adam Fantilli has finally spoken on the Kirill Marchenko saga, and he didn't sugarcoat it.

The Columbus Blue Jackets center is glad the trade got done when it did, because he believes keeping a player who didn't want to be there all season would have been a nightmare.

Fantilli was expected to play on the same line as Marchenko, so his take carries real weight.

He said he's happy the Blue Jackets now have guys who actually want to be in Columbus.

Columbus sent Marchenko, Miles Wood and Elvis Merzlikins to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday, September 28.

The Blue Jackets got Matthew Knies, Steven Lorentz, Emil Andrae and a conditional 2027 second-round pick back.

Marchenko also agreed to a six-year, $75 million extension with Toronto.

The situation had hung over Columbus for months.

Marchenko let the team know before the June draft that he didn't plan to sign an extension, and general manager Don Waddell said in July that he expected Marchenko to still be a Blue Jacket when the season started.

Fantilli locked in his own future before opening night, signing a six-year extension worth $13.75 million per season.

Now he gets to build around Knies, who put up a career-best 66 points last season and is expected to land in Columbus' top six.

Marchenko has already scored his first goal as a Maple Leaf, beating Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark with a backhander.

From there he took off and scored more.

Toronto got its sniper, and Columbus got its reset.

For a Blue Jackets group that spent the summer answering questions about who wanted to be there, Fantilli's message is simple.

The room is better off now.

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