The Columbus Blue Jackets have avoided arbitration with one of their most important remaining restricted free agents. According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Blue Jackets have signed Cole Sillinger to a three-year, $13.875MM ($4.625MM AAV) contract.
A few hours after the announcement, PuckPedia revealed the year-by-year breakdown of Sillinger’s new contract:
Year
NHL Salary
Signing Bonus
Trade Protection
Sillinger, 23, first joined the Blue Jackets in 2021 after Columbus selected him with the 12th overall pick of that summer’s draft. He was coming off an impressive year with the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede, scoring 24 goals and 46 points in 31 games with a +5 rating. He was the 10th-ranked North American prospect by NHL Central Scouting.
In an uncommon move, especially for a player not selected in the top three of the draft, Columbus immediately signed Sillinger to his entry-level contract, and he cracked the Blue Jackets’ roster out of training camp only a few months after being drafted. Only 18 years old during his rookie season, Sillinger performed relatively well, given the circumstances, finishing with 16 goals and 31 points in 79 games with a -22 rating, averaging 13:42 of ice time per game.
Unfortunately for Sillinger, he was not one of the 14 rookies to earn a Calder Trophy vote at the end of the season.
Furthermore, Sillinger hasn’t gotten much better since his rookie campaign. Outside of an injury-riddled 2022-23 season, Sillinger has hovered between 30 and 35 points a season, largely working as a tertiary scorer in the Blue Jackets’ middle-six.
He’s not great in the faceoff dot, but doesn’t look out of place, either. Columbus has attempted to develop Sillinger into a more defensively oriented center. Although he has become more physical, his defensive metrics have not shown significant improvement.
He began 55% of his shifts in the defensive zone last season, but only mustered an 89.9% on-ice SV% at even strength, a middle-of-the-pack output compared to the rest of the Blue Jackets’ forward corps.
Given his new salary, it’s evident that Columbus plans to keep Sillinger in his role for the foreseeable future. Although his new average salary is more than double his previous pay, it’s the going rate for a third-line forward as the upper limit of the salary cap continues to rise. Unless the Blue Jackets run into injuries, that’s exactly where Sillinger should be slotted into the lineup.
Columbus will have the benefit of a full season from Charlie Coyle and Conor Garland, and also acquired winger Valeri Nichushkin earlier in the offseason, eliminating most of Sillinger’s chances to move up in the lineup.
Sillinger will become an unrestricted free agent after the 2028-29 season at 25 years old.