Blazing his own trail: Lukas Sillinger sees opportunity at ASU

If Lukas Sillinger needs advice on how to adjust to a new team in a new city, he doesn’t have to look far. His dad, Mike, played for 12 NHL franchises including the Coyotes, and he was traded an NHL-record 10 times in his 17-season career, including twice on the same day.

Despite that familial expertise, Lukas didn’t need much counsel when deciding to transfer to Arizona State from Bemidji State after a sophomore season in which he had 17 goals and 38 points in 37 games.

“This was Luke’s decision all the way,” Mike said. “He talked to all the coaches and managers, did all the work and made this happen. He had two great years in Bemidji. He had the chance to play with his brother, but you see a lot of guys going into the transfer portal looking for a different opportunity and that’s what happened here. This had nothing to do with Bemidji at all. I think that he just kind of assessed the situation and was looking for a different opportunity.

“He knows that ASU’s program is a solid program on the up and up, they’ve got a new rink and they may be in the Big Ten or a conference soon. He wants to play pro and play as long as he can so I think the biggest thing for him is he just really saw an opportunity to play somewhere where there were going to be lots of NHL teams watching.” 

Lukas Sillinger insists that he loved his time at Bemidji, which was once led by coaching legend Bob Peters, father of PHNX Sports’ Steve Peters. He got to play with older brother, Owen, who also showed him the ropes in their time together in Penticton of the BCHL. But Owen graduated after last season, the boys’ parents live half of the year in the Valley, and with the Sun Devils opening their 5,000-seat, on-campus arena this fall, the move made sense.

“Doing something on my own is a route I kind of wanted to take after following my brother around to a few different teams,” Lukas said. “Obviously, I have family that lives down there and obviously the new rink is going to be a big hit in Tempe, but I think this team just keeps getting better and better every year, so the biggest reason why I’m going down there is because I feel like we’ve got a good chance at winning the national championship while I am there and it’s cool seeing Arizona becoming more and more of a hockey state.” 

ASU already had one of the nation’s most potent offenses, scoring 3.3 goals per game to rank 10th in the nation last season. Adding a player of Sillinger’s skill level through the transfer portal will only increase the Sun Devils’ output.

“When you look at him and then you look at [BU transfer] Robert Mastrosimone, who’s going to give us a ton of offense, and then you look at the Jackson twins [Ty and Dylan] who led the Maple Leafs’ development camp in points, we added some serious skill and serious firepower up front so we’re thrilled with the way our lineup looks right now,” ASU coach Greg Powers said.

“I knew that we had a really good crack at Lukas because his family lived down here pretty much the majority of the winter. I think when he put two and two together on where his best option would be, and realized he would have the opportunity to play with a kid like Josh Doan, it just made too much sense for him. Then the icing on the cake is he’s best friends with [ASU forward] Jackson Niedermayer.”

One of the biggest supporters of the move was Owen Sillinger, who is currently on a PTO with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and is under AHL contract with the Cleveland Monsters, the Blue Jackets’ affiliate, next season.

“We’re brothers, but we’re also best friends and I think that’s what’s pretty cool about it is we spent a lot of our time together talking about hockey and talking about how to get better,” said Owen, who had originally committed to ASU before choosing Bemidji due to the Sun Devils’ previous arena situation. “That’s the biggest role I played in his life was just being his older brother and one of his best friends and that’s something I hold very close to my heart, whether it’s helping him with decision making or just life in general. I’m always there for him.”

Owen and Lukas crafted a lot of memories together in their time in Regina’s youth hockey program, at home with younger brother Cole, who just completed a 31-point rookie season for Columbus, or in Penticton and Bemidji. One of those moments was Lukas’ first collegiate goal, a give-and-go with Owen that ended with a tap-in against Michigan Tech.

“We made so many memories and we got so close that I think, honestly, we took it a little bit for granted because we didn’t realize how special it was,” Owen said. “It’s not every single day you get to be a part of a college hockey division-one program and play on a line with your brother. It was so cool.

“It’s weird knowing that he’s not gonna be with me this upcoming hockey season, but we’re professionals and I know he’s gonna do great at ASU, just like I have high expectations for myself. I’m sure we’re still going to be talking a lot during the weeks and months ahead — any time he needs me — so I’m excited for him.”

Powers envisions Sillinger playing on one of his top two lines, and playing either in the middle or in front of the net on the top power-play unit with mainstays Doan, Matthew Kopperud and Tim Lovell.

“He’s not just a goal scorer; he plays with legitimate sandpaper so he is hard to play against,” Powers said. “He’s not afraid to throw his body around. [Tucson Roadrunners forward and former Sun Devil] Colin Theisen will be the first to tell you nobody’s hit him harder than Lukas Sillinger. He absolutely cleaned his clock last year. He’s got a hard-nosed, kind of north-south, blue-collar game with scoring touch. That’s exactly the kind of player we like.”

Like most collegiate players, Sillinger’s goal is to play in the NHL. At 21, he is too old for that to happen through the draft so it would have to happen via free agency.

In order to achieve that goal, he knows that he will have to beef up his 5-feet-11, 162-pound frame in ASU’s first-rate training facilities, and he knows that there are other areas of his game that need honing. At the same time, Sillinger wants to hone the areas of his game that he feels are already strengths.

“I’m a skilled forward; a smart forward that’s capable of playing defense and being strong on the wall, too,” he said. “I feel like I can make plays in all zones, on the power play, and even if it happens to be on the penalty kill, that’s something I’ve been looking forward to doing this year, too.

“I feel like puck management is a big part of the NHL game so trying to keep the puck on my stick and put it into areas where you know your teammates can get it is beneficial, but I’m also working on cutting back, playing a strong low game and of course, putting the puck in the net.”

This season’s Sun Devils will have the opportunity to open the new multi-pupose arena on Oct. 14 against Colgate. Sillinger has already toured the arena, but he can’t wait to walk out the tunnel in front of a packed and loud house.

“That facility is second to none,” said Lukas, who drove from British Columbia to Tempe this week. “There’s going to be an NHL atmosphere, especially with the Coyotes playing there, too, and I’m really, really looking forward to playing in it.

“I’m pretty familiar with the city because my parents spend the winters down there so every Easter the family tries to get down there and we spent the last Christmas break down there. It’s a beautiful city. There’s no bugs, no cold wind; it’s much different from Regina for sure. I’m so stoked to be there and I’m really looking forward to my time down there.”

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