Canucks offseason centre trade target: Cole Sillinger

At first blush, Cole Sillinger might not seem like the sort of player likely to end up on the trading block. The 6’1”, 202-pound centre just turned 22 a couple of weeks ago, and is still just four seasons separated from being selected 12^th overall in the 2021 Entry Draft. Four seasons, we should note, spent almost entirely in the NHL.

Furthermore, Sillinger is a Columbus Blue Jacket who not only was born in Columbus, but whose father is a former Blue Jacket. How unique is that? Honestly, it doesn’t feel like the Blue Jackets have been around long enough to have second-generation players, but here we are all the same.

Take a closer look, however, and there are signs of a potential departure. For one, Sillinger’s development appears to have stalled a bit in Columbus, with this most recent season’s 33 points being a career-high, but only just beating his previous highs of 31 and 32 points.

Furthermore, Sillinger is caught in a bit of a numbers game that has largely condemned him to bottom-six minutes, and seems likely to for the foreseeable future. He’s got Sean Monahan and Adam Fantilli ahead of him right now, and some key centre prospects like Cayden Lindstrom on the way soon enough.

Then there’s the whole ‘very public breakup with a pop star’ thing. There’s not a lot of precedent for how that would affect a young player’s development, but it’s just got to have an impact.

A clean, fresh start in another organization – especially one with some room for Sillinger to grow in the top-six – might be in both he and the Blue Jackets’ best interests. And Vancouver is certainly a team with some room at the centre position right now.

Besides, that whole ‘hometown’ thing is a little overstated. Sillinger’s father, the legendarily-well-traveled Mike, is a former Canuck, too. And although Sillinger was born in Columbus, he considers himself Canadian, and Western Canadian at that, calling Saskatchewan home.

It might just be time for a proper homecoming.

The Player

Sillinger is the very definition of a well-rounded centre, and has been ever since his draft year.

He’s got the size, skating ability, and willingness to engage defensively that have made him a true two-way centre from the get-go.

But scouts at the time also spoke highly of the potential of Sillinger’s offensive game. He gets a lot of accolades for his heavy, dangerous wrist shot, as well as for his ability to drive the centre lane. He’s someone who’s long had the sort of skillset that suggests an eventual breakout, but it hasn’t happened yet.

Then again, Sillinger has had an atypical upbringing in hockey. He played 52 games in the WHL before transferring to the USHL for his draft year of 2020/21. Then, after being selected at 12^th overall, he stepped right into the NHL for the Blue Jackets, posting a respectable 16 goals and 31 points as a teenage rookie on a CBJ roster where only one player cracked 60 points.

Sillinger had a dreadful sophomore slump of just three goals and 11 points in 64 games, and saw some time in the AHL during 2022/23. But he bounced back ably the next season, rebounding to 13 goals and 32 points in 77 games.

That brings us to last season. Despite missing time with a shoulder injury, Sillinger hit that aforementioned career high of 33 points in just 66 games.

It’s not exactly the production one might expect from a recent 12^th overall pick, and especially not one we’re pitching as a 2C solution for the Canucks. But context is everything.

Right or wrong, the Blue Jackets have been leaning into Sillinger’s two-way reputation. A quick glance at his advanced analytics doesn’t make him look like a Selke candidate, with each of his stats like Corsi, expected goals, and scoring chance control all well under 50% in each of his four NHL seasons.

But that’s playing for a Columbus franchise that has mightily struggled for most of Sillinger’s career. To wit, his on-ice save percentage has been under 90% in three of his four NHL seasons, and he’s always had a low PDO as a result.

And it’s not just that Columbus has been bad defensively during Sillinger’s tenure, but how much of the defensive load he’s been asked to take on as a result. Take a look at Sillinger’s quality of competition chart, courtesy of HockeyViz.

From HockeyViz

It demonstrates a centre who was being asked to play a shutdown role with the majority of his minutes coming against opposing top lines and top-sixes. And all at the age of 21. That’s a lot for anyone to handle, never mind someone who is still trying to get up to speed after being thrown to the wolves at 18.

Sillinger has the appearance of a player whose offensive abilities have been hindered by his deployment at the NHL level. But with him being as young as he is, there definitely seems to be lots of potential left on the table for that expected breakout to still occur – so long as Sillinger can go somewhere that will offer him greater offensive opportunity.

The Cost

Sillinger remains under contract for next season at a $2.25 million cap hit, which then expires into RFA status.

As such, and with some $41 million in cap space heading into the offseason, the Blue Jackets are in no real rush to trade Sillinger, and certainly won’t be doing so for free.

But the Blue Jackets are in need of some roster rearranging, and they now have the ability to deal from a rare position of strength down the middle. Converting Sillinger into a different kind of roster asset, either directly or indirectly, seems like smart business for them.

The Canucks don’t have much to offer in terms of roster players. Their blueline seems settled for the time being, and any wingers they might offer are either a bit too old for Columbus’ purposes (like Conor Garland) or not quite up to moving the needle, trade-wise.

In seeking Sillinger, we see two basic paths for the Canucks to go down.

On one hand, we could definitely see the Blue Jackets having some interest in Thatcher Demko, even if just for a season. Their goaltending has often been the bane of their success, and doing something about that has to be a priority this offseason.

The second, and far more likely, path is something involving the Canucks’ first round pick, which has been essentially earmarked for a centre acquisition.

Here, we think the valuation might be fairly straight-up. The Canucks’ pick sits at 15^th overall, and Sillinger was drafted at 12^th overall four years ago. It’s hard to argue that he’s lost value since then, what with his four years of NHL experience, but it’s also hard to argue that he’s gained much value. Each forward drafted ahead of Sillinger, with the exception of Tyler Boucher, has scored more points in fewer games.

Throw in the fact that this 2025 draft class is considered a relatively weak one, and we can see a world in which this year’s 15^th overall is considered equivalent to the 12^th overall pick of a few years ago. In other words, we can see a one-for-one trade of the 15OA and Sillinger.

The Fit

For the Blue Jackets’ purposes, they could either use that pick to make a selection and strengthen their youth infusion or, more likely, flip it for a different roster piece.

The Canucks, meanwhile, get a potential 2C in Sillinger, and one with some serious staying power. Acquire Sillinger now, and you get him with contract control at the cusp of his expected prime. Sign him to a decent enough extension, and you get to keep him through that prime, too.

One would hope that Sillinger would be given less defensively responsibility, and more offensive opportunity, in Vancouver. But that he’s already so capable and willing of playing a two-way game does make him a somewhat natural fit for Adam Foote’s continuation of Rick Tocchet’s structure and system.

It’s also worth noting that Sillinger plays a much more direct, centre-lane-heavy game than do the Canucks’ other two top centres in Elias Pettersson and Filip Chytil. That heavy shot could pair nicely with a playmaking winger like Garland.

He needs a little work on faceoffs, sure, but that’s work the Canucks have done before.

An acquisition of Sillinger really seems like it could be mutually beneficial for both the player and the team.

But when we talk ‘fit,’ we really see this player as a way for the Canucks to check off a lot of boxes on their to-do list in one fell swoop. To strengthen the centre position, diversify the talent, increase scoring potential, and make the current roster younger all in one go?

That’s a tire that is well worth kicking this summer.