The Columbus Blue Jackets avoided arbitration by reaching an agreement to sign forward Cole Sillinger to a three-year, $13.875 million contract, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press on Friday.
Event Context
The 23-year-old Sillinger opted for arbitration earlier this month, with the agreement reached before his scheduled hearing on Monday. Sillinger, the team’s first-round pick in the 2021 draft, is from Columbus and has five years of NHL experience.
Player Focus
Sillinger was a fixture on the team’s third line in making the switch from center to left wing last season, and finished with a career best-matching 33 points . Overall, he has 51 goals and 140 points in 367 career games.
Also on Friday, the Florida Panthers avoided an arbitration hearing by agreeing to sign newly acquired goalie Akira Schmid to a two-year, $4 million contract.
Florida acquired the 26-year-old Schmid by trading a 2028 third-round pick to Vegas on June 29 as part of an offseason goalie shakeup.
The team acquired goalie Jacob Markstrom in a trade with New Jersey a day later. The additions were made in anticipation of Florida losing long-time starter Sergei Bobrovsky, who has since signed with Toronto in free agency.
Schmid is from Switzerland and posted career-highs with 29 starts and 16 wins in his fifth NHL season last year.
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source
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement has not been announced. The signing was first reported by Sportsnet.ca.
