Blue Jackets sign Cole Sillinger to two-year deal

Wednesday, August 21, 2024
By Kevin Rouch
krouch@cbussports.com

Cole Sillinger will begin his fourth year with the Columbus Blue Jackets under the terms of a new two-year contract worth $2.25 million a year. File photo

Today, the Columbus Blue Jackets were able to sign all of their restricted free agents this offseason. The final RFA to ink a deal was center Cole Sillinger, who agreed to a two-year, $4.5 million contract ($2.25 AAV) through the 2025-26 National Hockey League season, the club announced Wednesday.

During a press conference this afternoon, Sillinger said that the two-year term “landed perfectly”. “I think for me, obviously, I want to be a Blue Jacket for as long as I can,” he noted. “I hold myself to a higher standard I guess than what I’ve shown over the last three years. I fell like I’ve progressed, but it’s been a little inconsistent. Before something longer term gets done, I’d like to prove it a little bit more.”

Sillinger, 21, was selected in the first round, 12th overall, at the 2021 NHL Draft. He has registered 32 goals and 42 assists with 105 penalty minutes and 398 shots on goal, while averaging 14:26 of ice time in 220 career games with the Blue Jackets since making his NHL debut as an 18-year-old in 2021-22.

“Cole Sillinger is a very smart, two-way center who competes extremely hard at both ends of the ice,” said general manager Don Waddell in a press release. “He played over 200 NHL games before turning 21 and is coming off his best season, so we are looking forward to his continued growth as a player. He is going to be an important part of the present and future of this club.”

The 6-1, 199-pound forward set single-season career highs in assists, points, penalty minutes and shots on goal in 2023-24 with 13-19-32 with 46 PIM and 157 shots on goal in 77 contests with the Blue Jackets. He skated in his 20oth career NHL game on March 5 at Pittsburgh and is the third player in franchise history to record 30 goals (32) prior to their 21st birthdays, joining Rick Nash (58) and Pierre-Luc Dubois (47).

Born in Columbus, Ohio and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, Sillinger added 2-4-6 and 12 penalty minutes in 11 career American Hockey League contests with the Cleveland Monsters in 2022-23. He spent the 2020-21 season with the Sioux Falls Stampede of the United States Hockey League, notching 24-22-46 and 39 penalty minutes in 31 games to win the league’s Rookie of the Year award.