Although his day job is now working as the Director of Player Development with the Edmonton Oilers and assistant coach of the Regina Pat Canadians, perhaps Mike Sillinger is much more qualified as a real estate consultant. Sillinger is the most travelled player in the history of the National Hockey League. In his NHL career that spanned from 1990-91 to 2008-09, Mike played for 12 different teams. This is two more teams than any other player.
After starting his career with the Detroit Red Wings and playing sparingly with the club until a trade sent him to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in 1994-95, Sillinger has remained with a single team from the start of a season to the finish just five times. In 1996-97 he was the sole property of the Vancouver Canucks. The other four years consisted of two two year stints, one with the Columbus Blue Jackets and the other with the New York Islanders.
What follows is a collection of ten hockey cards (plus a bonus) featuring Mike Sillinger with ten of his twelve teams. The only teams we couldn’t find Sillinger on cardboard with are the Philadelphia Flyers and Phoenix Coyotes. He was traded to Philadelphia from the Vancouver Canucks midway through the 1997-98 season and the Flyers traded him away to the Tampa Bay Lightning fairly early the following season. He played a good chunk of the 2003-04 season with Phoenix before being sent to the St. Louis Blues.
The Mike Sillinger rookie card is number 107 in the 1990-91 O-Pee-Chee Premier set. Sillinger was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings, eleventh overall at the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, after his second of four seasons with the WHL’s Regina Pats. Mike played with Detroit sparingly until 13 games into the 1994-95 season.
Next stop was Anaheim, California. He spent the last half of 1994-95 and a good portion of 1995-96 with the Mighty Ducks.
The Vancouver Canucks were one of just three teams that Sillinger spent parts of three consecutive seasons with. The Canucks sent him the the Flyers in 1997-98 for a lowly fifth round draft pick.
The stakes were higher when Sillinger was sent to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 1998-99. Him and Chris Gratton went to the Lightning, while Mikael Renberg and Daymond Langkow went north to Philadelphia.
Mike had an easy move across the state of Florida in 1999-00, going from Tampa to Miami. Cold weather was coming…
Once again, Sillinger was traded for a draft pick when the Panthers sent him to Ottawa. His stint with the Senators consisted of just 13 games in 2000-01.
Mike played two full, uninterupted seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2001-02 and 2002-03. Interestingly, He was in July, 2013 to the Dallas Stars for Darryl Sydor but never played in the state of Texas.
Instead of Dallas, Mike went to the Phoenix Coyotes, where he played 60 games in 2003-04 before being traded to the St. Louis Blues to finish out the season.
After the 2004-05 NHL lockout season, Sillinger returned to St. Louis to start the season. After 48 games, he was shipped to the Nashville Predators.
The final stop during his playing career was Long Island. Sillinger played 82 games with the Islanders in 2006-07, the only complete schedule during his career. The following season, his games played was reduced to 52. In 2008-09, he played just seven games with the Islanders and two with their AHL affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, before hanging up the blades for good.
Before the NHL, Sillinger starred with the Regina Pats of the WHL. He played with the Pats for four years from 1987-88 to 1990-91. He surpassed the 100 point plateau in each of his final three seasons, scoring 50 or more goals in each.