After a sophomore campaign that saw him score just 3-8--11 in 64 games, Blue Jackets center Cole Sillinger has bounced back with 1-8--9 in 25 games in 2023-24.
One goal and nine points in 25 games isn't anything staggering by any means, but looking at the advanced stats, Sillinger is one of the unluckier players in the league and has been for the past two seasons.
In 2022-23, Sillinger recorded 0.78 individual expected goals per 60 minutes at 5v5 (5v5 ixG/60), per naturalstattrick.com. Among players with at least 700 minutes of 5v5 TOI last season, that ranked 128th, but it was better than that of Jack Eichel, Nikita Kucherov, Jared McCann, Mark Scheifele, and others. Last season, Sillinger had the 25th-lowest goals above expected shooting talent, per moneypuck.com, making him the 25th-unluckiest player in the league by that metric. Additionally, he also recorded the 14th-lowest goals above expected with -8.1, per moneypuck.com.
#CBJ Sillinger (1) goal pic.twitter.com/zKozANH4z6
— Coby Maeir (@CobyMaeir) November 23, 2023
This season, his 5v5 ixG/60 is 0.90, which is equal to Connor McDavid and higher than Artemi Panarin. Alex DeBrincat, Travis Konecny, Nathan MacKinnon, Matthew Tkachuk, and others. His -3 goals above expected shooting talent are the 40th-lowest in the league and his -4.6 goals above expected are the ninth-lowest in the NHL.
Sillinger is still just 20 years old but has already displayed the talent that shows he can be a perennial 20-goal scorer, even if he's only scored 20 in his 168-game career.
With better puck luck and more experience, Sillinger should be filling up the net at a much higher rate.
