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Prospect Info: Anton Silayev (LD - #10 Overall - Round 1 - 2024 Draft)

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AFAIK there have only eve been three KHL players selected in the top-10, two forwards (Kravstov and Michkov) and one defenseman (Silayev). It is exceptionally rare for teenagers to be getting significant time in the KHL, it's the 2nd best league in the world after the NHL. Most Russian draft picks are from the MHL, which is the Russian minor league system.

Miro Heiskanen (#3, 2017) played his D+1 season in Finland's SM-Liiga and then immediately came over and jumped into Dallas his D+2 season. Simon Edvinsson (#6, 2021) played a full year in the SweHL and came over to AHL Grand Rapids, he got NHL games with Detroit in his D+2 and was up and down his D+3 year. Philip Broberg (#8, 2019) spent two full season in Sweden after his draft and split his D+3 between Edmonton and AHL Bakersfield, though his development path got kinda derailed by COVID and some injuries.

The following top defensive prospects also didn't make the NHL full time until their D+3 season or later:

Cale Makar
Jake Sanderson
Moritz Seider
Luke Hughes
Evan Bouchard
Josh Morrissey
Alex Pietrangelo

And I'd say they all turned out pretty good.

Silayev might need a few months to get used to North American ice, but he's not going to need to marinate down there for years and years. Nemec needed one year and change, and even then he was probably a bit overcooked and could have came up earlier if we needed him. And he came over as an 18 year old form the Slovakian men's league. A 20 year old with 3 seasons of KHL isn't going to need much of an acclimation.
 
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bossram said:
I don't mind the pick. He has the (slim) possibility of being a unicorn player. A huge, smooth-skating, shutdown defenseman with enough puck-moving ability to be a top-pair staple. The Devils do not have this player type in the system. I think you probably get a Jamie Oleksiak caliber player, maybe a Zadorov at worst.

With that said, given how the board shook out, I still would have taken Buium. IMO he was the 2nd or 3rd best player in the draft. I know he has some similar skills to some of the Devils other defensemen, but his defensive game is pretty advanced and he was pretty much the best NCAA defenseman as a freshman. I think he's on a different tier than Silayev. I don't think it's unreasonable he becomes a better-skating Adam Fox-esque player.
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Or he, Buium, could be another Drysdale.

It has been discussed at length here that the formula to Stanley Cup level success is building a team full of players that compliment each other. And that means not having 4-5 of the same type of tweeners. Fitzgerald's approach is the correct one. Get the right fit and the puzzle will come together eventually.
This team needed muscle and size in the back end. It's exactly what we got. Next step is to get a power forward. Fit and grit is what you need to win Stanley Cups, not the Drysdales of the world.
 
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Silayev having EX-Devil and legend Larionov as a coach is a major boost.

This dude went from unknown/not ranked to a top 5 pick within a couple week to start the season. Not to say it’s all Larionov but you can’t ask for a better dude to develop this guy. They gave him a lot of minuets (for his age), and played him in all situation to include the pp.

Maybe Zeev’s being more polished, worked against him. Most of the guys taken before him have more “issues” but are also labeled as “high ceiling” guys. We see weakness and scouts see potential.
 
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First of all, it was great catching up on all the analysis done by our prospect gurus here. Worth paying for and you collectively sold me on MBN heading into the draft.

I never really thought Silayev would be a possibility and so didn't think much about him, but yesterday I spent a good deal of time trying to mock the picks leading up to ours and I just didn't see a taker, so that's who I had us taking because... how could this team - with what it has and what it doen't have - pass that up? Had to be a top-5, maybe even #2, on our board.

Arguments that Buium is the better prospect are fair (I had him going 2 to CHI and didn’t think he could last past 6, to give you an idea about how much I nailed the full top 10) but I don’t think he held much appeal to the team with Luke, Nemo, and Casey in the fold. The brass rightly believes that a winning D corps needs some of everything, including size, physicality, and the ability to play shutdown d against physical forwards, and I just don’t think we could get away with icing a group composed of three, let alone 4, of those guys who don’t fit that profile. His being ncaa also complicates matters because he maybe doesn’t leave to play ahl or maybe doesn’t see himself developing to what he wants to be here stuck behind luke. If you think you may need to trade him down the line, you might as well take the guy who by all logic will have even more trade value when he’s nhl-ready in Silayev.

Anyway, a no-brainer pick.
 
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Idk if it's been talked about but there is always an issue with guys coming from the bigger sheet and getting use to playing on a smaller NHL rink. Skilled playmakers, shooters, whatever. Less ice to work with and less time to make those pretty plays.

It's been said he can almost cover half the ice himself, and those open ice hits he's been laying? Now imagine less room for all the other players around him, this should only be a benefit once he figures it out.
 
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TrufleShufle said:
Idk if it's been talked about but there is always an issue with guys coming from the bigger sheet and getting use to playing on a smaller NHL rink. Skilled playmakers, shooters, whatever. Less ice to work with and less time to make those pretty plays.

It's been said he can almost cover half the ice himself, and those open ice hits he's been laying? Now imagine less room for all the other players around him, this should only be a benefit once he figures it out.
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Bigger part of KHL rinks are finns or canadien size.


He should work on his game with the puck. If he will develop it more - it will be huge top-4 defenseman for many many minutes. He is 17 yo who is already playing in KHL. So the chance he will develop it against harder competition better than Dickinson will understand the game against transition.
 
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Unknown Caller said:
So a better skating and taller Anton Volchenkov. Half joking, but constant clips of a 6'7" guy knocking people over isn't all that interesting. We know he can do that.

I'm more interested in his overall awareness and ability to make a good first pass with consistency.
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If you have The Athletic you can watch a lot of clips of his defense there that don’t involve hitting. Also a lot of clips of him moving the puck.
 
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Unknown Caller said:
So a better skating and taller Anton Volchenkov. Half joking, but constant clips of a 6'7" guy knocking people over isn't all that interesting. We know he can do that.

I'm more interested in his overall awareness and ability to make a good first pass with consistency.
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Not all picks are meant to be sexy.
 
One of the reasons I do not get involved in all the pre draft prospect ‘scouting’ of this board is because I don’t want to have my eye on the great majority of kids who will inevitably go elsewhere. For example, I remember this board falling for K’Andre Miller then he went to the exact wrong team lol. I was even less attached than normal this year due to the non-zero chance of trading the pick though I doubt it was a consideration once we were actually on the clock.

To me just show me who we draft on draft day, don’t really care about the prospect ranks beforehand or ranking guys - though I appreciate the work Steve and the pros put into it - and I do like to see where the ranks fall after the fact.
 
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NJDevs26 said:
One of the reasons I do not get involved in all the pre draft prospect ‘scouting’ of this board is because I don’t want to have my eye on the great majority of kids who will inevitably go elsewhere. I remember this board falling for K’Andre Miller then he went to the exact wrong team lol. To me just show me who we draft on draft day, don’t really care about the prospect ranks beforehand or ranking guys - though I appreciate the work Steve and the pros put into it - and I do like to see where the ranks fall after the fact.
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Its not fun at all.
 
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Guadana said:
Bigger part of KHL rinks are finns or canadien size.


He should work on his game with the puck. If he will develop it more - it will be huge top-4 defenseman for many many minutes. He is 17 yo who is already playing in KHL. So the chance he will develop it against harder competition better than Dickinson will understand the game against transition.
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I'm saying playing on smaller ice will only help his style of game. So he could be better.

Are you saying he already plays on smaller rinks?
 
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TrufleShufle said:
I'm saying playing on smaller ice will only help his style of game. So he could be better.

Are you saying he already plays on smaller rinks?
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KHL has all big euro middle finns and small nhl size rinks. So he is playing everywhere.
Yeah I agree it would help him. My post didnt look like im agree with you, thats on my side)
 
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Ok, so I have a type. I love skaters. I am thrilled the Devils went back to elite skating, whether it's stride or edges. This dude has both. It was one of the reasons I love watching Demidov and why I liked Buium.

Unconscious, instinctive fluid skating means you can play all day and it should make other parts of your game easier. He is so young. I cannot wait to see the 21 year old that appears in 2026. I wonder if he will stay for rookie camp. I am nicknaming him Colossus for many obvious reasons...Piotr Rasputin to protect the house.
 
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NJDevs26 said:
I don’t get why people hate this pick - so he’s gotta stay in Russia for two years, nobody we picked here was likely to play this or next year anyway.
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Delayed gratification is a problem for some people. Not being able to see what you’ve got for another 3 or 4 or maybe 5 more years. The uncertainty of their future development as opposed to someone who’s finished or nearly finished now. The Russian uncertainty of where our relations with them will be in that time frame. All of that is bound to show itself in a group discussion among hundreds of people.
 
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TrufleShufle said:
I'm saying playing on smaller ice will only help his style of game. So he could be better.

Are you saying he already plays on smaller rinks?
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Yeah while it’s still an adjustment I also think a guy like Larionov will only be able to help speed that along. Even aside that, I’d be a lot more concerned about a speedy, small forward making that adjustment than a guy whose strength is only helped by it.
 
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