One of the big stories heading into this offseason for the Columbus Blue Jackets was the status of their many pending free agents, especially with their RFA core. Don Waddell spoke at the beginning of the summer that the list of pending free agents was the largest of his career, and while acknowledging that the business was going to be busy, he said, "I don't worry about sleep," to former Jackets Insider Jeff Svoboda.
Outside of the obvious two big candidates of the Blue Jackets' core that were pending RFAs this offseason in Jet Greaves and Adam Fantilli (who remains unsigned) the most intriguing extension candidate was Columbus native Cole Sillinger.
Sillinger was coming off of his first season at the NHL level posting a positive +/- rating with a +2 across the 2025-26 campaign in which he slashed a 8-25-33 line in 81 games played while averaging just 15:13 minutes a night on a dismal 5.9% shooting percentage and with 37 penalty minutes.
In spite of several attempts by clubs like the Vancouver Canucks in trade offers that came for Sillinger, Don Waddell turned those offers down, and extended Sillinger on a 3-year, $13.875m dollar contract with a cap hit of $4.625m annually. The extension will keep him in Columbus through 2029, at which point he'll become an unrestricted free agent.
Sillinger, still just 23 after his birthday in May, remains an interesting developmental projection for the Blue Jackets. His development and entry into the NHL was likely rushed, and it's clear his immediate numbers at hockey's top level have suffered as a result.
However, he finally seemed to find a role the he could thrive in least season on the Jackets' third line with Charlie Coyle and Mathieu Olivier in which he played the left wing instead of his usual spot at the center position.
That trio played 418 minutes together per MoneyPuck.com, good for a top 13 spot in the NHL among offensive line combinations. They were successful in that role as well: despite a 52.9% xGF%, they posted an actual 64.3% GF%, good for 6th amongst those 13 400+ minutes lines. Sillinger-Coyle-Olivier were effective together, and it showed in their results.
Moving into 2026-2027, we'd like to see Sillinger take the next step in his offensive production. His 33 points matched his career high, but it still feels like he has another gear as a goal scorer especially left in him. His Shooting Talent above League Average was 12th worst in the NHL last season (minimum 400 minutes played) and he scored 7 fewer goals than the average player would have per MoneyPuck's formulas.
If Sillinger can even bump himself up to the 40 points range, it'd be a huge benefit for a Jackets team trying to bring postseason games back to Columbus for the first time in eight years. It's not an insane stretch to think he has the talent for even more. Now he just has to show it.
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