Sillinger following in dad's footsteps as a Blue Jackets draft pick

For the rest of their lives, Mike Sillinger and his son Cole will be able to argue over the bragging rights.
The elder Sillinger was the No. 11 overall pick in the 1989 NHL draft of the Red Wings before going on to a decorated 17-year NHL career. Cole, meanwhile, was technically taken 12th overall by the Blue Jackets in last week's NHL draft, but because Arizona forfeited its pick, Sillinger was technically the 11th player off the board.
"If you look down the list, I'll be the 11th name called, so I'm going to have to tell him that and tell him he hasn't beaten me in that case," Cole Sillinger said with a laugh on draft night. "There will for sure be some chirps."

Mike, however, was more than willing to cede the spotlight to his youngest son. After all, such names as Nicklas Lidstrom, Sergei Fedorov and Vladimir Konstantinov were also drafted by the Wings in his draft year, but they were chosen much later because there was simply no guarantee the Russians would ever make it to North America to play.
In fact, only four picks in the first two rounds of the '89 draft were from Europe, while Cole, meanwhile, participated in a draft that featured players from all the world viewed equally.

"I'll give him the bragging rights for sure," Mike said. "When I was drafted back in '89, all the Europeans, they never started getting drafted until after the third round because they didn't know if they were gonna come. I'd have to say going 11 or 12 or whatever he went is probably better than mine. I look back, I probably would have been a late first-rounder or a second-rounder. Who knows?"
That, of course, is far from the only connection the two Sillingers have with their draft. While Mike famously played for 12 NHL teams, a record, his longest tenure was in Columbus, where he posted 38 goals and 86 points over 155 games in 2001-02 and '02-03.
Cole said he was honored to be a legacy draft pick by the Jackets, but…
"I probably had about a 50 percent chance of going to a team he went to," Cole said with a laugh. "But it makes it that much more special that I went to Columbus. When my dad played there he had a lot of friends that he still has to this day, so I'm looking forward to reuniting with that. I was born in Columbus, so it makes it even more special as well. I can't wait to get to town there and see it all firsthand."
Add in the fact that yes, as Cole said, he was born in Columbus while his dad played for the Blue Jackets, and it makes it seem almost like this draft pick was destined to happen. But that's far from the case, as Sillinger was projected to be a mid-first round pick and the Blue Jackets went into the draft with three first-round picks (Nos. 5, 25 and 32) but none where Sillinger was likely to go.
That all changed an hour before the draft when the Blue Jackets traded Seth Jones to Chicago for a package that included that No. 12 (or 11) overall pick.
"When Columbus made that trade, I got a little bit of jitters," Cole Sillinger admitted. "I was just happy they believed in me and selected me."
So what made Sillinger stand out to the point he was projected to be a first-round choice? The immediate answer is an excellent shot, one honed over years of hard work that Sillinger can get off from a variety of angles, making him hard for goalies to read. He's used that skill to post goals throughout his junior career, tallying 22 times among his 53 points in 48 games in 2019-20 with Medicine Hat of the WHL and then posting 24 goals among 46 points in 31 games with Sioux Falls of the USHL this past season.
On top of that, the center plays a responsible 200-foot game, the kind you'd expect from the son of a former NHL player, making him an attractive player to NHL scouts.
"I think I was drafted as more of a skill guy and I didn't have the all-around game that he has now," Mike said of his son. "His work ethic, he's got endless work ethic on and off the ice. I just think it's something all the kids are learning now at a young age. It's something that after I got drafted I had to learn, the details of the game, how to play in both ends of the rink. Cole is mature beyond his age."
Added CBJ general manager Jarmo Kekalainen: "Instincts, hockey sense, character, those are all things that we value the most, and he has all of them. Everybody we've talked to says so many great things about his character. He's driven. He's a leader at a young age, and he already has a great work ethic. He's very competitive, so those are all the qualities we were looking for in a Blue Jacket."
The three players Cole said he models his game after are John Tavares, Bo Horvat and Logan Couture, but he still also has a number of similarities in his game to his dad.
"I think his hockey sense, his compete level, are a couple of things we really have in common," Cole said. "He was very relied upon in all three zones, he was relied upon in every situation, where he was taking faceoffs or even a big penalty kill out of him. That's something I try to model my game upon and be really relied upon and be trusted by my teammates. His compete level, my compete level, we're all super driven, super focused, and that will take us a long way."
All the way to the first round of the NHL draft, as it turns out. Time will tell how long it will take Sillinger to make it to the NHL -- or if he'll end up playing for as many teams as his dad -- but for right now he's excited to follow in his father's footsteps and get things going in Columbus.
"The first thing he said is obviously with the fans, they are electric and one of the best fanbases in the NHL" Cole said. "The next thing he said is Columbus has great people. I can't wait to get down there and see it firsthand. My goal is wanting to make the playoffs and win a Stanley Cup with Columbus."