Two of the remaining restricted free agents from the Blue Jackets have opted for salary arbitration. Today, potential hearing dates for both Jet Greaves and Cole Sillinger were announced. This sets a hard deadline for GM Don Waddell to have them put pen to paper on new deals.
Aaron Portzline broke the news on X:
#CBJ now have arbitration hearing dates for G Jet Greaves and F Cole Sillinger should their continuing talks not reach a contract first.
— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) July 10, 2026
Greaves' hearing would be July 23, and Sillinger's July 27, both in Toronto.#CBJ will request a one-year contract ruling in both cases.
You might be surprised by the one-year contract ruling request from the team, but that actually makes the most sense here. In the event that one or both of these cases does proceed to arbitration, the team has only two options: one year or two year contract terms. The arbitrator decides the salary.
From the Blue Jackets perspective, a two-year term on either of these players would walk them right into unrestricted free agency. By opting for one-year contracts, the team would get another crack at this thing next summer.
What kind of deals can we expect?
Greaves is coming off of his first full NHL season, and it was a very good one. By season's end, he had a firm grip on this team's starting job; by many metrics establishing himself as a top-10 goaltender in the NHL. Then, he starred for team Canada at the World Championships.
The hockey world has yet to really accept him as the budding star that he is, but that won't be the case for much longer. The Blue Jackets would be wise to try to lock him up for a few years, before his value really explodes.
At this point in time, AFP Analytics has him at 4 years, roughly $6 million per. I think that's a deal that makes a lot of sense for both sides. The Jackets would get some stability in the crease, and Jet would get the chance to sign another contract at age 29, right in his prime. That's a win/win.
Meanwhile, Sillinger is a more established NHL player. He's been on the team for 5 seasons, but it was not until the most recent one that he really carved out his niche. He became an important piece of the third line, and was used as a utility forward up and down the lineup.
Believe it or not, he has big time value in this league. At just 23 years old, he's already a veteran of nearly 400 NHL games. Guys like this don't grow on trees.
AFP Analytics has him at just over $5 million dollars on a 3-year deal. In my opinion, the Blue Jackets should offer him the longest contract they can, and try to convince him to stick around as a core piece of their middle-six for the foreseeable future. They might have to pay him a little more now, but it will save them money in the long run.
Two weeks to get them done.
So far, the Blue Jackets have never had a player get all the way to arbitration. This is a streak that we would like to see continue this summer, because that feels like a less-than-ideal outcome for these two players.
The team would be wise to get both Greaves and Sillinger signed to longer-term contracts this summer. Their values are not likely going down, and in a rising cap world, they are probably only going to go up.
That means Waddell has roughly two weeks to get both of these guys figured out. Add the Adam Fantilli situation into the mix, and it's not hard to see that he will be a busy man until he gets all of his RFA paperwork in order.
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