It's a move the Blue Jackets can now afford to make with enough center depth available, and it's something they hope will help Cole Sillinger salvage his second professional season.
Sillinger was loaned to Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League on Thursday and the 19-year-old center will now assist the Blue Jackets' AHL affiliate in their push for a Calder Cup playoff spot. The move will also give Sillinger a chance to play a bigger role than skating on the fourth line in Columbus, where he averaged 13:18 a game.
"He took it like we expected," said associate coach Pascal Vincent, who handled the Blue Jackets' head coaching responsibilities for another day while Brad Larsen attends to a death in his family. "He's a very mature person. To me and to us, the organization, it's an investment. We're going to invest in him. He's going to play meaningful games. He's going to be asked to play a lot of minutes."
Sillinger was selected by Columbus with the 12th overall pick in the 2021 draft and spent the entirety of last season in the NHL as the league's youngest rookie. He centered all four lines and finished with an impressive 16-15-31 in 79 games. This season, he's struggled with an extended "sophomore slump" that's held his scoring line to 3-8-11 in 64 games.
After scoring his first two goals, Sillinger went 45 games before scoring a third in the Jackets' 7-4 loss last Friday at the Anaheim Ducks . The Blue Jackets have since bolstered their depth at center to allow for Sillinger to be loaned to Cleveland.
Sean Kuraly , who was initially thought to be out for the remainder of the season with an oblique strain , has made a speedier recovery than expected. Hunter McKown, a collegiate free agent from Colorado College, signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Blue Jackets on Monday. There's also an ongoing experiment involving Patrik Laine , who's moved from wing to center on the top line.
The Blue Jackets view Sillinger as a stalwart center for the club in the future, so helping him finish a frustrating season with more ice time and responsibility in Cleveland — where he'll join his older brother, Owen Sillinger for the first time ever as a teammate — is significant.
"Taking on additional responsibilities and playing games with playoff implications, and hopefully games in the playoffs, is hugely important to the development of a young player like Cole," general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said in a statement. " Zach Werenski was in a similar position a few years ago and the experience helped him individually and from a team perspective, as it resulted in a Calder Cup championship."
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets loan center Cole Sillinger to Cleveland Monsters
