Owen Sillinger looks to forge his path to the top

When the prospects took the ice for the first day of the Blue Jackets' annual development camp last week, 24-year-old forward Owen Sillinger was nowhere to be found. For a few hours, some may have questioned whether his participation would happen at all.
But around noon, the door to the back hallway at OhioHealth Chiller North opened and the confident strut of the oldest Sillinger brother was unmistakable. After introducing himself, Owen explained that he was one of the many victims of Toronto's Pearson International Airport travel nightmares following the NHL draft.

But Sillinger did not appear angry or frustrated with the delay, and his struggles getting to Columbus did not affect his performance on the ice over the last two days of camp.
Sillinger netted a goal in the annual Stinger Cup, where prospects got to play periods of 5-on-5, 4-on-4, and 3-on-3 hockey in front of a packed house of 5th Liners and most of the CBJ hockey operations staff.
"I didn't get to skate Monday, but I felt great as the days went on," Sillinger said. "It was great obviously being able to play in game-like situations here."
"I thought I played [with] a lot of compete and pace, so I'm happy for myself."
In March, Owen signed a one-year AHL contract with the Cleveland Monsters for the upcoming season. After playing at Bemidji State for four years (graduating with a marketing degree), the 5-10 forward recorded a career clip of 51-64-115 with a +24 rating in 134 games. He was a member of the 2018-19 WCHA All-Rookie team his first year, earned second-team All-CCHA team honors last year when he had 47 points in 39 games, and wore the "C" on his chest his senior year.
Of course, the name Sillinger is not new to the Blue Jackets organization. The first Sillinger nameplate was stitched on the union blue jersey in 2001 when Owen's father, Mike, spent two of his 17 years in the NHL with the Blue Jackets.
Fast forward 20 years, along with a few new logos and a different jersey number, and the second Sillinger name was placed in a Blue Jackets locker for Owen's little (or maybe we should say "younger") brother, Cole.
The Blue Jackets selected Cole as the 12th overall pick in the 2021 NHL draft. He appeared in 79 games last season, recording 16-15-31 including a hat trick against Vegas on March 13. The Columbus-born 19-year-old quickly became a fan favorite, and Cole received well-deserved recognition when Rick Nash invited him to join Team Canada at the 2022 IIHF World Championship in May.
While Owen said he was happy to join an organization that has strong family ties, he's also looking to forge his own path forward.
"It's been really neat," Owen said. "But honestly, (Cole) kind of let me be myself and make my own decisions. (Cole let me) build my own relationship with the management and coaching staff. It's been great."
Mike provided some insight from Owen's contract negotiation. Monsters general manager Chris Clark, the Jackets' director of player personnel, told Owen, "We're not signing you because your brother (is) here. We're signing you because you had four great years of college. Not only are you going to help our team here in Cleveland, but you're going to get the chance to play in Columbus."
As a parent of three hockey players, and two in the same professional organization, Mike is excited about the future.
"As parents these are special times (because) they're all going to be going their own ways eventually," he said.
Seven years into Mike's 17-year NHL career, Owen was born. For the next 10 seasons, Owen essentially grew up on the road in NHL locker rooms.
"I don't really remember much," Owen said. "I know that my mom (Karla) was an absolute warrior taking around myself, Lukas and Cole through those cities and stuff like that. I do remember little pigments of certain teams in different locker rooms, especially Columbus being one of them. It's actually kind of funny; the trainers talked to me and they remember me running around with the little kids."
Mike also remembers those times -- and also gives credit to his wife for taking care of the family while he took care of business on the ice.
"My biggest supporter was my wife," he said. "She was the one that controlled the family. She was the one getting everything all set up and making the moves and everything. It was awesome; it's a great lifestyle. We raised three boys and now hopefully they can all try to do the same thing."
So what was it like for Owen to grow up in a house with a dad playing in the NHL and two younger brothers who were hockey players? Mike painted the picture.
"The dynamic was compete; it was competition for everything," he said. "From the dinner table to wrestling to you name it."
Owen has a similar memory of growing up in Regina, Saskatchewan.
"We were competitive right from the get-go, but it wasn't just hockey," he said. "Whether it was playing soccer, playing basketball, schoolwork -- seriously, doing anything we wanted to be the best of all three of us. We love the game so much. We have so much passion for hockey. We love to compete against each other and that's great."
The brothers are five-and-a-half years apart, as Cole is the youngest, Lukas is in the middle, and Owen is the oldest. Lukas, a good player in his own right, is set to begin his third season of college hockey. After spending two years with Owen at Bemidji State, Lukas transferred to Arizona State this past spring where he looks to make an impact right away with the Sun Devils.
"Owen was kind of the big brother to Cole," Mike said. "Lukas and Owen were very tight and they always kind of scrapped. And then Cole and Lukas got closer so they always scrapped. Owen was always really good to (Cole). They're six years apart so they kind of seem to get along a bit better."
Although the Sillinger brothers may have thrown a few elbows at each other as youngsters, Mike is proud of how they treat each other as young adults.
"Since they've become young men, they all get along really well," he said. "They train together, work out together, they golf together here in the summertime. They do everything together."
With the acquisition of Owen, Jackets fans have a chance to see two Sillingers on the ice at the same time some time down the road. When the puck is in the corner and one of the Sillinger boys goes in to dig it out, opponents might just want to let them have it. Owen and Cole grew up in an NHL house and have been battling for the last piece of pizza and control of the TV remote for their entire life. You don't want to get in their way.

Rapid-fire questions

If you weren't playing hockey right now, what would you be doing? "I'd be involved in the game somehow, whether it be a scout or working with my AAA team, I'm not really sure. I have a degree in marketing from Bemidji State University, so maybe using that, but yeah, I'm not really sure. I haven't really thought about it."
If you could switch lives with one person for a day, who would it be and what would you do? "Justin Bieber. Because he's a great singer obviously and, I don't know, I think that it would be pretty cool to be him."
You're a big golfer. Playing all that golf, what is your favorite golf course you've ever played? "Whisper Rock in Arizona. My whole family are members at the Wascana Country Club in Saskatchewan. We're out there three to four times a week playing against each other with buddies and family members and stuff like that."
If you could pick one player in the league right now that you think is most like you, who would you say? "Yanni Gourde on the Seattle Kraken. I thought about it a lot. I like the way that he hunts the puck and he competes, and obviously he's another undersized guy. He's been overlooked in his career, but he doesn't let it define him. He comes to work every day and he's had very successful seasons (in the) NHL, and he's got two Stanley Cups to show for it."