Quoting: Jacketsman61
He is not really buried. It is just simply the Jackets have too many forwards on the roster with no waiver flexibility.
Sillinger is also 20 and waivers exempt. He's not buried, he's a young prospect who likely needs seasoning not at the NHL level. That can be solved by simply sending him to the AHL.
Quoting: Sjohns8888
Lindholm would be a massive upgrade on him. Especially if they could work out an extension. Boqvist is buried and is most likely the odd man out on the backend now and vladar gives you some security in net in case Elvis goes down again.
This move on top of what they did so far in the off-season would make the jackets a solid playoff contender.
Lindholm
would be a massive upgrade on Sillinger. Boqvist
is buried, and could be the odd man out on the back end. Vladar
would give some security if Elvis goes down (or Tarasov), in theory. That's missing a ton of context though.
Sillinger still projects to be a top-6 center, and showed flashes of it his first year. It's really unlikely he has a repeat of last season, especially under a competent coach with a new system. If he struggles, he goes to the AHL. If he develops, the ceiling appears to be a Lindholm-like player in a few years, but with more years of team control. Regardless, I actually don't have an issue making him the centerpiece for a Lindholm trade.
Lindholm with an extension severely eats into Columbus' cap situation next year. We've got ~$28M (if the cap goes up $4M) to sign 9 NHL-level RFAs (8 if Sillinger is traded), 2 of whom are already playing in the top 6. Even if those two only get $4M each, there's $20M to sign at least 6 guys before Lindholm, and probably only $12M to sign them after an extension. So now we're shipping prospects out the door to trade for him
and losing someone like a Chinakhov or Texier due to cap concerns in all likelihood. There's opportunity cost on top of actual cost.
Boqvist is buried until we end up having to play 7 RD in the NHL like we did last season. Peeke, Blankenburg, or Gudbranson could all (and should all) sit before him anyway.
Vladar, Elvis, and Tarasov are all not waivers exempt, so unless we're carrying 3 goalies, we're risking losing one to waivers. It doesn't make sense when what we really need is a veteran backup on a 2 way deal (or that at least won't get claimed).
And finally, the value of the trade is off. Sillinger, Boqvist would all likely return a 1st in individual trades, so you're asking us to trade the equivalent of 3 1sts for what amounts to one year of a cheap 1B center in a year that we have no business going for it, just so we can extend him to be (if it goes well) an expensive 2C for years 3-8 that doesn't
quite fit the window at the cap cost and actual cost of pieces that should be part of that window's core going forward. It doesn't make as much sense if you dig past the surface.
Lindholm would be an upgrade, and Sillinger could absolutely be part of a trade for him, but it's more complex than that and we're not going to overpay for him.