With the 2021 NHL Entry Draft looming closer, we now feature one final player before wrapping up our pre-Draft coverage.
And our one last candidate needs to be addressed by sheer virtue of being a value pick at No. 8.
Cole Sillinger
Vitals
Date of Birth: May 16, 2003
Height: 6-foot
Weight: 201 lbs
Shoots: Left
Position: Forward
2020-21 Season
Sillinger spent the entirety of his 2020-21 season playing for the Sioux Falls Stampede in the United States Hockey League (USHL). He scored 46 points (24 G, 22 A) in 31 games.
A Familiar Name for Many
The name Sillinger should ring the bells for hockey fans, as Cole’s father is Mike Sillinger. For those unacquainted, Mike has the record for the number of NHL teams a single player has played for, with 12. Those teams were: Detroit, Anaheim, Vancouver, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Florida, Ottawa, Columbus, Phoenix, St. Louis, Nashville, and New York Islanders.
Give A Team A Loan
The 2020-21 season saw the Ontario Hockey League not start at all – although there was frequent hope of an eventual start. The Western Hockey League, where Sillinger played last year, faced similar uncertainty. Sillinger’s camp requested from Hockey Canada permission to join Sioux Falls, as the Stampede owned his USHL rights. The sniper’s request was denied.
With no start date determined yet, Medicine Hat opted to loan Sillinger to Sioux Falls for the entire season. This may all sound academic at first, yet there is actually a tie-in to Los Angeles. The Tigers’ GM making this executive decision was former Kings coach Willie Desjardins.
Acclimating
The primary justification for this aforementioned loan was to give Sillinger the best chance to display his talent during his Draft year. He made enough of an impression in his rookie season, earning recognition for USHL’s Rookie of the Year, All-Rookie Team, and Second Team All-Star.
Rankings by Independent Scouting Services
Ranked tenth by The Draft Analyst. “Maybe we need to put an asterisk next to Sillinger’s draft-year league because he’s a real Western Canadian kid who was drawn to the top U.S. junior circuit by the pandemic. That turned out to be bad news for USHL opponents, as Sillinger torched the league to a tune of 1.48 points per game, whcih was good for fourth overall. But Sillinger, whose father Mike played 17 NHL seasons, didn’t have the luxury of a deep supporting cast. He’s a powerful forward but also one with exceptional hands and playmaking ability.”
Ranked fifth by Hockey Prospect. “Sillinger is a shoot first, power center. He plays a relentless, hard hitting and tenacious style of hockey. The first word that comes to mind when describing Cole is raw. Last season when he played for the Medicine Hat Tigers, he was thin and weak. This made him easily knocked off the puck and he lacked the power necessary to separate. As a result, he played a game that focused a lot more on his teammates and on his playmaking in general. He showed the ability to slow down the play, readjust traffic and use his sense for the game to compensate for his lack of a physical base. He was more of a complimentary component to a line than a real driver of play. Fast forward to this past season with the Stampede, and we were left looking at a completely different skillset that developed as a result of his strength, power and skating improvements.”
Ranked thirteenth by Future Considerations. “Sillinger’s creativity is elite. His understanding of the game combined with his vision allow him to be a dynamic offensive weapon. He’s a sneaky player that can attack at anytime. With improvements to skating and pace of play, he should be a top player from this class.”
See For Yourself
Here is a shift-by-shift video of Sillinger (No. 34 in white) from earlier this year.
Final Comments
Sillinger is a development staff’s dream and a scout’s nightmare. He displays some basic mechanics, such as an NHL-ready shot, while also boasting a solid frame to keep pace with professionals. However, there are a lot of other mechanics, such as skating, which is noticed by many scouts and often considered a work in progress.
From a scouting perspective, there are many layers which make projecting him extremely difficult. For example, he was more of a passer in his D-1 season for Medicine Hat, as assists made up 58% of his points. This season, the rate went down to 48%, suggesting better goal-scoring prowess. Many players get classified as a dual-threat when both shooting and passing talent are visible, yet it seemed simply like passes were either used less or were less effective. How offense will be driven from Sillinger, going forward, muddies up projections.
The remarks on his best and worst skills also seem unanimous: excellent shooter, yet skating needs a lot of work. Not that poor skaters should be disqualified – it simply brings the question of ‘If this ability does not improve, is there enough for an NHLer?’
As with many first year Draft eligible prospects, the U-18 World Junior Championship is a great way to see where players currently sit against their best peers around the world. COVID protocols disqualified him from competition, which further complicates matters for scouts trying to rank him.
Finally, questions come up as far as what position would best fit him. He played both center and wing (primarily left). While changing positions is easier from center to wing, the question comes up of which would be best for him. If wing does turn out to be better, his shot needs to be taken into consideration again. Many of the more gifted snipers play on their off-wing (Ovechkin, a right-shot, plays left wing; Kucherov, a left-shot, gets more time on the right side, etc). Players shooting from the off-wing have a better angle to shoot on net. With Sillinger, a team would have a gifted left-handed sniper. Would he be best staying left-side and weakening his forehand shot’s angle, or push him to the right into uncharted territory?
This is when a development team gets their dream come true, and management gets a very large canvas to work with.
Applying his available tools, including size, effort, shot, creativity, and work rate, coaches get a talented kid with a lot of strengths to fall back on. To some, he may still be perceived as a bit of a project. Yet, as mentioned in previous articles from this series – skating isn’t about becoming a speedster. Applying proper mechanics and techniques can improve agility, first-step quickness, balance, and even endurance. Add in strength, which all younger players need to develop, and there’s a pretty good template for someone capable of playing NHL-level hockey.
From there, it becomes a question of how will this type of player be used, and how can he be set up for success within the organization? In Los Angeles’ case, they have a deep pool of centers. As far as left versus right wing, Kaliyev is already a primary left shot who mainly plays right. Not that more wouldn’t hurt – it just seems in this case, perhaps letting Sillinger stay comfortable on his left side while he develops would be better. This would also allow the development staff to refine his passing abilities, give him structure, and create a dual-threat player.
There are question marks with Sillinger as with every other prospect in this Draft. He has a fairly high probability of being available to the Kings at No. 8. If Rob Blake, Mark Yannetti and company agree with the value play here, then Glen Murray, Director of Player Development, will have a lot to work with.
NOTE: David Hofreiter was the lead contributor in the gathering of information used in this article. You can find him on Twitter @Davidenkness to talk more hockey.
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