Blue Jackets avoid arbitration and sign Cole Sillinger to a three-year contract

The story is the three-year term, not the money.

Per Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, Sillinger signed a three-year contract worth $4.625 million per season, sidestepping a hearing that had been set for this coming week in Toronto.

That roughly doubles his previous cap hit of $2.25 million. On paper, general manager Don Waddell checked another restricted free agent off a crowded summer list.

Only Adam Fantilli now remains unsigned among the team's key young forwards, with his next contract projected far higher. Every dollar spent elsewhere shapes that room.

Look closer, though, and something quieter stands out.

This is the second straight bridge deal Sillinger has signed. Back in 2024, both he and Waddell framed his two-year pact as a stepping stone toward a bigger, long-term contract once he reached restricted free agency in 2026.

That summer is now here. Instead of the long-term commitment both sides pointed toward, Sillinger re-bridged for three more years.

Two straight bridges for a former top-12 pick is unusual. It signals a player whose stock has held steady rather than climbed.

The raise is real, but the security is not. Columbus bought zero unrestricted free-agent seasons and kept every ounce of leverage.

The 12th pick from 2021 is 23, with nearly 400 games and a settled middle-six role under new coach Rick Bowness. That is exactly the profile a team locks up, yet Columbus chose optionality instead.

This deal expires in 2029, walking Sillinger to the doorstep of unrestricted free agency in a rising-cap market. Whatever the Blue Jackets saved now, they will likely pay back then, with far less control.

Avoiding arbitration was framed as a clean win.

It reads more like a decision Columbus quietly postponed for the second time in two years.

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