Thursday, October 21, 2021

Sillinger NHL Watch

Games Played:9


Edit:
Sillinger is dressed tonight. If he remains dressed for next game he is for sure 99.9% not coming back.  (Their is another 40 game mark but that is about free agent contract status) We will probably see some sort of official announcement soon.

He has been bumped up to Line #2 tonight for Columbus. He's been on Line 3 through his first 8 games. He ended up on the top line by the end of the game and put up 2 goals and 1 assist for a 3 point night.


Important MileStone
Sillinger is Eligible to play in 1 more game before his NHL Contract kicks in. I used to think it was 10, but it is indeed 9

At that point Columbus will decide to either keep him, send him to the AHL (Cleveland Monsters) or send him to the WHL. (Cleveland is also where former Tiger Cole clayton is playing.)

If they send him down to the AHL, it means Columbus cannot recall him to the NHL without burning a year off his contract. If they do recall him it burns a year off his ELC contract.

If he is sent down to the Tigers. He cannot be recalled.

I feel their is no way Columbus wants to send him back to Junior. It's possible and I'm hoping for it, but I feel that option is extremely small

I still wonder about the legality of his AHL eligibility, but all the Newspapers and Columbus feel this is still valid.  

Columbus plays wednesday and Saturday next week. So if Sillinger plays on Saturday it means he is staying in the NHL for now.

 If they are struggling with their decision it is possible they healthy scratch him for a game because that would then delay their decision until November 12th instead of November 6th.



October 21st
2 shots ,10:29 icetime.

October 29th
4 SOG, -1, 12:44 icetime

October 25th

4 PM, 4 SOG, 13:41 Icetime || 1:58 PP Time.

The 4PM due to a double minor where he dropped the gloves and got into a fight that wasn't penalized as a fight.



October 23rd

1 SOG || 15:52 IceTime


Oct 21st


17:17 Icetime, 1 Goal, +1, 6 shots, including 1 shift of 3v3 OT 

Oct 19th
9:46 of icetime, 2 Penalty Minutes
*Cole was benched in the 3rd period for taking 3 minor penalties in his first 3 games.

Oct 16th
13:54 of icetime, 2 penalty minutes, 2 shots

Oct 14th

13:37 of icetime. 1 assist, +1, 3 shots, 2 penalty minutes


Thoughts

He is seeing 3rd line minutes and 2nd line pp minutes. He is not seeing any PK time. 
Columbus suffered an injury with Max Domi and called up a young russian player. The russian and cole has beat out a few other vets for roster spots.

Sillinger now has 2 points in 4 games with a plus 2 rating. He was benched in his 3rd game and came back with a vengeance the following game.  Coaches love that. 

I watched the game tonight and he looks like an NHL player. He kept his game simple, and when he had puck possession he always seemed to make the right play. He is doing what someone on the 3rd line needs to do.  One knock is that his faceoff percentage is under 40%

Getting .5 ppg from your 3rd line is very good production. It's only 4 games in but he doesn't look out of place. It seems like a very good fit for him. Columbus is also 3-1 to start the season when many expect them to be near the bottom once the season ends.

WHL Eligibility
I don't like judging players after a really good game, or a really bad game. You can't expect that to continue and emotions cloud clear thinking. Sillinger faced a little adversity with being benched and played a strong game thereafter.

I also think the situation changes if the jackets were 1-3 instead of 3-1. Your not going to send down a player contributing when your team is winning.  We will see if that changes over the next 6 games, but after 10 games if the jackets have a .500 record or better, I think they will keep him especially since his AHL eligibility seems to be a truth. (Although I feel that could be challenged)

My expectations of him coming back have dropped to 5-95 not coming back. 

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Sunday, October 10, 2021

Sillinger Watch - Sillinger Inches Away from Opening Night Roster

Sillinger Makes Blue Jackets Opening Night Roster?

The Blue Jackets made a bunch of roster moves in preparation for the season. The roster isn't "open night official" as of yet, but they are down to 23 players with the expectation that 1 of them will be put on the IR. It means 1 player on the roster won't make opening night.

Is He Coming Back
Scott Roblin posted on Twitter that Columbus confirmed Cole Sillinger is eligible to play in the AHL, since he played in the USHL last year. 

USHL Loan 

I might be wrong here since Columbus thinks Sillinger can play AHL, but I don't believe that is 100% legal. Sillinger was signed to a whl standard contract which is bound by the CHL transfer agreements. He was loaned to Sioux Falls..so the CHL transfer agreements are still  valid.

When a player is drafted, the league the player is drafted from, determines his NHL eligibility. The USHL allows 18 year olds to play AHL. Since Sillinger played USHL last season he earns eligibility to play in the AHL at 19.

 Is this a loophole? I think this is a unique situation that hasn't been encountered before. 

Their are 2 different laws applying but from what i've read in the Columbus newspaper and scott Roblin's twitter it sounds like Sillinger is eligible for both the AHL and the CHL.

NHL Transfer Agreements
 Their was a special Transfer Agreement document made just for the Covid season. The agreement has deviations for import players, or players who were in North America who went to play in Europe, but the CHL transfer agreements remain the same as per tradition.

I don't see how a loan constitutes an over-ride of the CHL Player Transfer Agreements which Sillinger is still signed and bound by.  

If this was fought, I feel like the CHL would have a winning case. 

If we read back to a MH News Article last season. 
He’s a big part of our team, he’s a big part of our future, and that’s part of the agreement – that he’ll be back here again next year,” said Desjardins. “Once their season is done, then he would come back. If we go later than they do, then he could come back at that time.”


Case For Juniors
One positive junior hockey has over the AHL, is that Sillinger would burn a year off his ELC by playing in the AHL. Their current GM has only ever had 1 player stick in the NHL who was 18. Their was also a recent article that said they would be a fan of sending him to the world juniors, if he wasn't playing Top 8 minutes.

Sillinger is marked on the 2nd line, and 2nd powerplay unit as the 4th forward. 

I don't really know what to think here. I do think their is still a chance he returns because their GM does not have a history keeping 18 yr olds up. Plus it means they keep an extra year of his contract. However Columbus centre position is very weak. I feel that they are going to pencil him his 10 game NHL trial and go from there. 

Here is his performance from his NHL Pre-Season games. Columbus opens the season thursday night against Arizona.


October 9th
1 assist, 3 shots, 3:23 PowerPlay Time ||  14:09 IceTime



 October 6th

-1 rating, 1 shot, 15:20 Ice Time || 0:28 PP Time.

October 4th

14:29 IceTime || 1:25 PP Time || 0:46 SH Time

September 29th

-1 rating, 2 shots, 17:31 IceTime || 2:00 PP Time

September 27th

1 Assist, 2 PM, 4 Shots, 16:26 Icetime || 2:56 PP Time || 1:49 SH


Juniors or NHL

I'm reducing the odds of him returning. I'm legit scared the Tigers may loose him. I'm thinking it's 25-75 that he won't return.



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Friday, October 1, 2021

New Season

 I've been completely burnt out by the whl. Maybe it's the pandemic,  but I had a plan last season to come back and start posting again. Once I learned their would be no post-season it drained any interest I had.

Will I keep posting?...I'm not sure. I may take a few years being "casually off", posting very infrequently. We will see.  Checking the view counts I find it crazy how people still check this blog out sometimes daily and I feel a bit guilty for not posting something. 

Central Division Expectations For This Season.

Normally I would have a through look at all the other teams in the league, and have a decent understanding of the strengths and weaknesses, but this year I haven't looked at the various rosters with any specificity.  

I can see that Edmonton should have another dominant team, but their are a lot of other teams that are harder to read from not actively watching and understanding their rosters. Their seems to be a lot of inexperience through the central on a casual glance.

Medicine Hat Tigers Expectations

The roster this year is very young. I would consider it a transition year. If we look at the roster the Tigers only have 2 19yr olds.  Their 17 year old group has 9 players. Very young. Young teams usually are near the bottom of the standings or fighting for the playoffs. I'm not saying the Tigers will be in that position, because the Central division as a whole looks inexperienced with the exception of Edmonton.

Competition could be fierce and their could be some interesting battles as it seems like multiple teams maybe in similar type of transition years.

Tigers still have 4 20 year olds on the roster, so one of them will eventually need to go. (Baker, Van Impe, Hopwo, Svejkovsky) I feel like van Impe could be an odd guy out, but if the Tigers could get a return for a guy like Hopwo I would definitely feel that would be advantageous long-term. 

Svejkovsky is out for tonight and he will be relied on heavily to be a big scorer for the Tigers. 

Oren Shtrom I really liked from last year is also a scratch against swift current. He will probably be near the top in terms of points for the Tigers. 

The Tigers offence is already a lot leaner than the past couple years, so when those guys are out, you wonder who is going to score the goals, which is normal for a younger roster. It is a very good time to be a young guy for the Tigers because their is ample opportunity to step up. Sillinger coming back would greatly boost the Tigers goal scoring in a significant way.

Cole Sillinger

I think I do well predicting whether older players who have cases for the NHL or AHL end up.

The bad thing for the Tigers is that Columbus has terrible depth at centre. Max Domi a center is currently injured and will be out for a month into the NHL season, so their is room for an extra centre to start the season.  The jackets also have a lot of players who play a couple positions and can move to wing.

The Blue Jackets are not expected to do well this season. Do you really want to burn a year of a good prospect with a team that may not do well? 

Salary cap usually dictates where players play. The time of year prospects are signed are also highly relevant to where they play. The earlier the signing, the higher the expectation that player makes the jump sooner rather than later .

Sillinger was signed soon after getting drafted which is a good indication the Jackets like him a lot. He is 100% gone next season for sure. But what about this season?

 Blue Jackets have 14 forwards under salary and 4 of those are eligible to be sent down, including another young russian who is in a similar spot as Sillinger...so their is room in Columbus for Sillinger should he play well enough. 

Sillinger was paired on the Jackets top Line and 2nd PP unit in the last exhibition game, which was very interesting. I think it's hard to see him continue that beyond the pre-season, but that is a sign that the bluejackets are very curious to see what he can do at the NHL level, by pitting him against tougher opposition.  They are testing him to see if he can hold a roster spot.

This makes me feel like the Jackets don't yet know what they are going to do.  It's not difficult to see a case where he plays his 10 games of NHL before being sent back. 

 My instinct says he may be a late return to the Tigers. However... If the blue jackets were to go through injuries, this situation changes dramatically.  Something as simple as an extra injury to a centre could change things a lot.

This is a situation where I'm watching closely, but I think it's 60-40 he will eventually be sent back. That means I think he is more likely to be sent back, but I'm not confident in that and the situation could easily change.

 If I was the Jackets GM my thinking would be to keep him up to push other players to perform, possible play him for his 10 NHL games before sending him back down.


What I'm watching For

The Tigers have 9 17's which is exceptionally high. They have brought the banff hockey academy to the hat. The coaches include former Tigers and the Willie Desjardins son, Brayden Desjardins. I feel like this means the Tigers have an extended capability of scouting alberta hockey, which could lead to future WHL dynasties, but we may need to go through a leaner year to get there first.

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