The Columbus Blue Jackets and center Cole Sillinger agreed to a three-year contract worth $4.625 million annually, avoiding salary arbitration. NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported the settlement Thursday.
The deal carries a $13.875 million total value and locks in the 22-year-old through the 2028-29 season. Sillinger, selected 11th overall in the 2021 draft, was coming off his entry-level contract and had filed for arbitration — a process the two sides bypassed with this bridge-style agreement.
The production profile is mixed. Sillinger has appeared in 367 NHL games across five seasons, totaling 51 goals and 89 assists for 140 points. That works out to an 82-game pace of 31 points. His 2025-26 campaign — 8 goals and 25 assists in 81 games — essentially matched that career rate, a 33-point pace that suggests a player who has settled into a specific tier rather than trending upward.
The goal totals tell a starker story. Sillinger scored 16 as an 18-year-old rookie, then 13, 11, and 8 in successive seasons. The assists have climbed, pointing to a shift in role, but the declining finish rate is hard to ignore for a former top-15 pick entering his prime years.
For a center, the underlying metrics complicate the picture further. Sillinger’s career faceoff percentage sits at 45.7% — well below break-even. His Corsi has never reached 49% in a single season, and his relative Corsi has been negative every year since his debut, meaning Columbus has controlled a smaller share of shot attempts with him on the ice than without him. Those are not the possession numbers typically associated with a near-$5-million cap hit.
None of which makes the contract indefensible. The deal buys out remaining restricted free agent years for a player who will not turn 23 until later this year, and the NHL’s rising salary cap will make $4.625 million look different in 2028 than it does today. Centers with size and defensive responsibility carry premium valuations even when the offensive ceiling seems capped. Columbus is also building around Adam Fantilli, and depth down the middle matters.
The question is whether Sillinger’s third contract rewards a breakthrough that has not yet arrived or simply prices in the player he already is. Through 367 games, the data describes a bottom-six center with modest offensive output and sub-50% possession. The Blue Jackets are betting that the former first-rounder still has a gear he has not found.
Columbus still has pending business with Fantilli, who will command a significant raise as the club’s top young center. How the Sillinger deal fits within that broader cap structure — and whether it leaves enough room — remains the more pressing question for general manager Don Waddell.
