There is a second line vacancy in Columbus, and it's one of the bigger lineup holes for the Blue Jackets ahead of next season. It's a tough (expensive) position to fill externally, so they may be better suited to find a solution within. One player who isn't talked about much, but could be a good option: Cole Sillinger.
It feels like Cole has become a forgotten piece of the Blue Jackets core. He doesn't get the same recognition that forwards like Kirill Marchenko, Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson, or even Dmitri Voronkov get. But, don't forget: of this group, Cole was the only player to play in the NHL full-time as an 18 year old. But, he's spent most of his time in a somewhat thankless role within the team's bottom-six.
So, while it seems like he's a guy who has reached his peak, it's important to remember one thing: in spite of the fact that he's a veteran of 286 NHL games, he's still only 22 years old. As we noted in another article earlier this week, he's reaching that age where guys break out. Though, his offensive numbers aren't likely to stand out when he's playing as the team's third line center.
In that role, he quietly set a new career high with 33 points (11 goals), in just 66 games played last year. Basically, a 40-point pace over an entire season, had he remained healthy. Not bad for a guy whose regular line-mates were mostly a mix of journeyman utility players.
If they put him on a line with some legitimate scorers, I think there is a lot more room to grow here. Cole isn't the best skater in the world, but he goes to the hard areas of the ice and wins puck battles. In that regard, he's quite similar to Boone Jenner at the same age. And, something he has going for him: he's a better shooter.
This seems like the perfect kind of fit alongside Adam Fantilli and Kent Johnson on the team's second line. It would be not unlike Dmitri Voronkov playing on the top line last season. Sometimes, it's not about putting all of your most talented players together: it's about finding the right fits.
Voronkov fit in alongside Kirill Marchenko and Sean Monahan because he brought traits that complimented their play styles. He uses his size and hockey sense to make up for his skating and stay above the puck. He often picks it off and then prefers to dish off passes, and go straight to the front of the net. That meshed really well with Monahan and Marchenko's forechecking and shoot-first mentalities.
From that perspective, Sillinger's play style is exactly what they need for the second line. Fantilli and Johnson are both effective attackers with the puck on their stick. KJ in particular likes to hold onto it and open up time and space for his linemates before dishing off a pass. Fantilli loves to pull the puck into his feet and fire off shots from high in the slot.
Imagine Sillinger retrieving pucks in the corner, getting the puck to one of them, and going straight to the net. Or, opening up on the off-wing while Johnson draws in defenders, for an easy tap-in goal.
He could help in other facets, also.
Playing in the bottom-six for most of his first four seasons has made Cole a somewhat mature all-around player. He can take some of the faceoff burden off of Fantilli from time to time, and like Voronkov, he would be effective as the "third man high" forward on this line. No matter how I look at it, he makes a lot of sense with these two.
By adding Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood to the bottom-six, GM Don Waddell has at least opened up this option. Boone Jenner may be the more obvious fit here, but from a long-term perspective, it feels like grooming Sillinger for this role makes sense. It will be interesting to see how they fill out the lineup once training camp gets under way.