Toggle sidebar

Prospect Info: 156th overall: Vancouver selects Arturs Silovs (Goalie, Latvia ---> Barrie Colts)

  • Xenforo Cloud will be upgrading us to version 2.3.5 on March 3rd at 12 AM GMT. This version has increased stability and fixes several bugs. We expect downtime for the duration of the update. The admin team will continue to work on existing issues, templates and upgrade all necessary available addons to minimize impact of this new version. Click Here for Updates
Latvia is playing its last preliminary round game in 2 hours. They havent announced the goalie, but Im pretty sure its Silovs, since Merzlikins was pulled after an injury 2 days ago and was later limping around with ice around his ankle.
Latvia is 2 points behind 4th place, which is held by the US. In order to advance, we need a win over Swedes and Norway to win the US afterwards. Both needs to be won in 60 mins. So, the chances are, how to say, slightly not in our favor.
BTW, Silovs came in for Merzlikins at 1-3, and Latvia ended up winning 4-3. He did not allow any goals again, but I was to frustrated with the overall play to come and tell that Silovs looked great again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lindgren
Vikz said:
Latvia is playing its last preliminary round game in 2 hours. They havent announced the goalie, but Im pretty sure its Silovs, since Merzlikins was pulled after an injury 2 days ago and was later limping around with ice around his ankle.
Latvia is 2 points behind 4th place, which is held by the US. In order to advance, we need a win over Swedes and Norway to win the US afterwards. Both needs to be won in 60 mins. So, the chances are, how to say, slightly not in our favor.
BTW, Silovs came in for Merzlikins at 1-3, and Latvia ended up winning 4-3. He did not allow any goals again, but I was to frustrated with the overall play to come and tell that Silovs looked great again.
Click to expand...
Thanks and I am rooting for you guys and silovs. Would love to see you guys make it into the Knockout stage even if it is unlikely.
 
Latvia lost 0-1. It was our best game this tournament by far. We did not allow Sweden that much, but still, 1 goal on 30 shots is impressive stat for Silovs. He is finally included on the IIHF goaltending stats page (previously had not enough minutes), and he is second with .952 and 1.22 GAA.
He was our best G in this tournament, and I went from thinking that Merzlikins will play all the games, to being cautiously optimistic about Silovs playing good against mid-level teams, to thinking that Silovs is actually the go to guy in any situation.
Today, Silovs probably is the best Latvian goaltender today. Don't know about tomorrow just yet, but he outplayed Merzlikins completely. Should there be one more deciding game, he would be in the net. If only we could produce centers at the same rate we produce goaltenders. Happy for the guy, especially given the fact that he is so young. He's still basically a toddler in goaltender years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: supercanuck, VIPettersson, sting101 and 7 others
Vikz said:
Latvia lost 0-1. It was our best game this tournament by far. We did not allow Sweden that much, but still, 1 goal on 30 shots is impressive stat for Silovs. He is finally included on the IIHF goaltending stats page (previously had not enough minutes), and he is second with .952 and 1.22 GAA.
He was our best G in this tournament, and I went from thinking that Merzlikins will play all the games, to being cautiously optimistic about Silovs playing good against mid-level teams, to thinking that Silovs is actually the go to guy in any situation.
Today, Silovs probably is the best Latvian goaltender today. Don't know about tomorrow just yet, but he outplayed Merzlikins completely. Should there be one more deciding game, he would be in the net. If only we could produce centers at the same rate we produce goaltenders. Happy for the guy, especially given the fact that he is so young. He's still basically a toddler in goaltender years.
Click to expand...
thank you for the report. I’m pleasantly surprised by how well Silovs did and hope he finally gets a proper run of games next year. I would love for him to get a starters workload in the AHL next year but I would be fine with a 50-50 split with DiPietro, who I haven’t entirely given up hope for.
 
Silovs' performance at the Worlds makes it even more baffling as to how he was used this year in the Canucks organization.

After hardly playing in the COVID year (basically one game with Manitoba) and then sitting around and practicing in Abbotsford this year, before being dispatched to the ECHL. What was their thinking?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zippgunn and Lindgren
Vikz said:
Latvia lost 0-1. It was our best game this tournament by far. We did not allow Sweden that much, but still, 1 goal on 30 shots is impressive stat for Silovs. He is finally included on the IIHF goaltending stats page (previously had not enough minutes), and he is second with .952 and 1.22 GAA.
He was our best G in this tournament, and I went from thinking that Merzlikins will play all the games, to being cautiously optimistic about Silovs playing good against mid-level teams, to thinking that Silovs is actually the go to guy in any situation.
Today, Silovs probably is the best Latvian goaltender today. Don't know about tomorrow just yet, but he outplayed Merzlikins completely. Should there be one more deciding game, he would be in the net. If only we could produce centers at the same rate we produce goaltenders. Happy for the guy, especially given the fact that he is so young. He's still basically a toddler in goaltender years.
Click to expand...
You really came through. If you come across any post-tournament tidbits, comments by Silovs himself, his coaches, etc, you know where to share them ...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Vikz, WetcoastOrca and I Hart Conor Garland
Vikz said:
Latvia lost 0-1. It was our best game this tournament by far. We did not allow Sweden that much, but still, 1 goal on 30 shots is impressive stat for Silovs. He is finally included on the IIHF goaltending stats page (previously had not enough minutes), and he is second with .952 and 1.22 GAA.
He was our best G in this tournament, and I went from thinking that Merzlikins will play all the games, to being cautiously optimistic about Silovs playing good against mid-level teams, to thinking that Silovs is actually the go to guy in any situation.
Today, Silovs probably is the best Latvian goaltender today. Don't know about tomorrow just yet, but he outplayed Merzlikins completely. Should there be one more deciding game, he would be in the net. If only we could produce centers at the same rate we produce goaltenders. Happy for the guy, especially given the fact that he is so young. He's still basically a toddler in goaltender years.
Click to expand...
I can second this, every word. It feels like if we started Šilovs more from the start, we would have a better chance for 1/4's :laugh: He's very big in the net and seem to be able to do some good reads.
The only comment is that yeah, TODAY today Šilovs is better. Overall he is far from Elvis's level in the NHL season. But in this tournament, Šilovs looked calm, skilled, and with a bright future especially given his age. Lots of work ahead of him before doing some damage in the NHL probably, given his AHL stats
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lindgren
The previous management group's handling of the Canucks young goaltender prospects has been uneven, to say the least.

But the plan next season should be relatively straightforward: Let Silovs and DiPietro split starts in Abbotsford. Give them each an ample number of games and development time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zippgunn and WetcoastOrca
bossram said:
The previous management group's handling of the Canucks young goaltender prospects has been uneven, to say the least.

But the plan next season should be relatively straightforward: Let Silovs and DiPietro split starts in Abbotsford. Give them each an ample number of games and development time.
Click to expand...

This leaves the Canucks in a situation where one of those guys would be their third goalie. Far better to just give up on DiPietro and sign a veteran AHLer to be the "new" Spencer Martin.
 
Burke's Evil Spirit said:
This leaves the Canucks in a situation where one of those guys would be their third goalie. Far better to just give up on DiPietro and sign a veteran AHLer to be the "new" Spencer Martin.
Click to expand...
I’m quite happy for Silovs or Dipietro to be the third goalie for next season and to see how well they do in a more normal season. This team isn’t going to be a contender next season and if Demko gets hurt for a significant amount of time this team is dead in the water anyway. May as well develop the goalie prospects and hopefully build up their value and see where they’re at by next summer.
 
I'm happy Silovs looked good but lots of guys look good in the world championships. I still think he's a big project. It does seem like he can be calm in the face of pressure but he has many many technical issues. That's the conclusion I arrived at from his practice footage and I maintain that judgement now.

Like these Austria highlights aren't...good. He bites so hard on his "highlight save", and he's constantly off his angle on simple attacks. On some goals he simply doesn't appear to track it even in routine situations where there's a clear "open shot".

I mean Clark definitely had some say in deployment this season, I see no reason to question his judgement, especially on young goalies that he had a say in drafting.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PuckMunchkin
The Stig said:
...

Me thinks he overtakes Mikey this season.
Click to expand...
I've thought he's played better than DiPietro when they were treated equally for quite a while now. That doesn't mean it will necessarily continue or that DiPietro can't come through, but it has surprised me that Silovs wasn't given more of an opportunity even when it appeared he deserved one.
bossram said:
The previous management group's handling of the Canucks young goaltender prospects has been uneven, to say the least.

But the plan next season should be relatively straightforward: Let Silovs and DiPietro split starts in Abbotsford. Give them each an ample number of games and development time.
Click to expand...
You are being kind and masterfully understating the incompetence of Canucks management. Their handling of Canucks young goaltending prospects has been awful. Between being in a position where they had no choice but to play DiPietro in the NHL when he wasn't ready, their arranging 2021 so that both of their prospects spent most of the season not playing and this past season when they had three goalies in Abbotsford most of the season, they put the youngster who was playing better on the back burner to help DiPietro (and Silovs stats showed it in the few games he got after being relegated to 3rd in Abbotsford) and played neither youngster enough to really develop except when there was an injury in the system they screwed up until the new management team finally loaned Silovs to an ECHL club to get some games.

In any event, as you said this season should be simple. The only complication I can see comes if the Canucks continue to have no ECHL affiliate again this coming season. Normally they'd have another goalie in the system, probably on an AHL contract but loaned to an ECHL club until there is an injury in Vancouver or Abbotsford. It worked really badly for the prospects last season when they went with three goalies in Abbotsford (though it worked well for finding next season's backup when Spencer Martin exceeded expectations) so they might have to plan on using players on PTO contracts when there is an injury to one of their four goalies.
 
My main hope is that the last two years of our two main goalie prospects getting put in the absolute worst possible positions in terms of their development... hasn't outright ruined them both.
If it can be done, I want to see both DiPietro and Silovs get lots of work next season.
 
Time to hype this guy up. He’s been fantastic at the world championships on the heels of a great ahl season and nhl debut. One of the better goaltending prospects. The question is starter potential vs backup.
 
Let's be objective here, as good as Demko has been the last couple of years, the big caveat is his health. Almost every season something comes up that drives him on to IR. When that happens, the Canucks chances of winning basically bottom out.

But for the first time in at least the last three seasons, there's real hope if Demko goes down again. Silovs is closing in on legitimate 'starting goalie status'. And he'd be a lot better as a backup than some expensive veteran signed as insurance.
 
nucksflailtogether said:
Time to hype this guy up. He’s been fantastic at the world championships on the heels of a great ahl season and nhl debut. One of the better goaltending prospects. The question is starter potential vs backup.
Click to expand...
He potentially could be better then Demko because he is more athletic then Demko. Demko is good but is far from being an elite athletic goalie like Sorokin, Saros, Vasy and Sherestkin.

Demko is similar to Hellebyuk in term of style
 
  • Like
Reactions: Coffee
Gstank said:
He potentially could be better then Demko because he is more athletic then Demko. Demko is good but is far from being an elite athletic goalie like Sorokin, Saros, Vasy and Sherestkin.

Demko is similar to Hellebyuk in term of style
Click to expand...
Unless Silovs does a complete face-plant at training camp in September, at worst he's the backup goalie in Vancouver.

Can't see what would be accomplished by having him spend another year in the AHL.
 
Like last year, Silovs has earned the #1 goalie position for Team Latvia at the WC and helped to earn a win against Czechia.

Here's a quote from Arturs Irbe as Silovs got his stamp of approval: "An NHL goalie has came to the tournament. Some will say that he's from the AHL. I say - an NHL goalie. If someone thinks he is not, let's talk in two years. Guaranteed. I had a chance to get to know Arturs. He has a large lion inside him."
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Vector, Lindgren and WetcoastOrca
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Top Bottom