Cole Sillinger has joined Jet Greaves on the list of Columbus Blue Jackets to avoid arbitration this summer.
Sillinger and the Blue Jackets have reportedly come to terms on a three-year deal worth $13.875 million Friday, a new contract that carries an average annual value of $4.625 million.
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman was the first to report the signing.
The deal is similar to the one Greaves signed just one day earlier, when the goalie inked a three-year deal at an average annual value of $5 million.
Both contracts expire at the end of the 2028-29 season, and both players will be unrestricted free agents at that time.
For Sillinger, the new contract will more than doubles his previous salary: he is coming off a two-year deal that carried an AAV of $2.25 million.
He scored 33 points in each of those two seasons, both beating out a previous career high of 32 points in the 2023-24 campaign. He scored eight goals and added 25 assists this past season, in which he played in 81 of the Blue Jackets' 82 games. In 2024-25, Sillinger had 11 goals and 22 assists in 66 games.
Despite having only turned 23 after the season ended, Sillinger already has five full seasons under his NHL belt. He has 51 goals and 89 assists (140 points) in 367 career games in that span.
No Blue Jacket has ever played in that many games before reaching the age of 23.
Sillinger spent much of the 2025-26 season on the Blue Jackets third line with Charlie Coyle and Mathieu Olivier in a trio that became known for being amongst the toughest to play against in the NHL. They skated together for 418 minutes, more than 60 minutes longer than any other Columbus forward line.
Coyle, who agreed to a long-term deal with the club in May, and Olivier, who is in the second year of a six-year deal, are both back in the fold this season and the trio sticking together would certainly have its advantages.
Several teams, notably the Vancouver Canucks, reportedly were interested in trading for Sillinger in recent months. But the Blue Jackets, who view Sillinger as a part of the long-term picture in their middle six, were reluctant to part with their 12th overall pick in the 2021 draft.
Full focus now shifts to the team's only remaining unsigned player: Adam Fantilli. He's almost a lock to become Columbus' highest paid player, with a long-term contract expected to be in excess of $11 million annually.
The Blue Jackets have roughly $14.4 million in available cap as of Friday afternoon.
