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

[DerekDevils30]

I am far from a prospects expert. Watching some of the highlights I’ve seen posted in this thread and the breakdowns from our resident experts I can see why he was drafted. The physical traits he has cannot be taught. He has the potential to be an elite shutdown dman in the NHL with that size, speed and reach. Even if he doesn’t ever develop much of an offensive game I won’t be able to fault Fitz and co for drafting this monster. This isn’t a case of “draft him because he’s big.” There’s so much potential here.

 

[evnted]

another viewing on the docket

• good stops per usual. not the same level of physical aggression as last time, but still used his body proactively (including for shot blocks). solid with the stick as always
• panic isnt the word but i thought his response to pressure was a slight step back today, had a couple sloppy clears and shaky moments in puck battles. looked more like early season
• dare i say he was...dangerous offensively? well, in moments at least. the looks really arent producing clean chances, but hes getting stuff toward the net. more passing plays off extended carries, continuing to actively pinch and try to take pucks deep (even went for a wraparound at one point)

little bit of a dull one, not as much to stay. super abbreviated shift in ot, unfortunately, was hoping for more of a chance (TOR had a pp for a lot of it)

 

[JK3]

Looking at those full game clips he needs to get comfortable with having the puck on his stick, be a little more patient and take that extra second to chose the right play. Seems like anytime he's got the puck in the D zone it’s like holy shit get this thing away from me. He just chucks it to a team mate whether they’re open or not, off the wall or rims it around. There were some nice little passing plays when moving up ice though.

What really has me excited is his ability to skate so well backwards and be in perfect position. With that skating and reach he covers the entirety of his side of the rink from the red line into the d zone and just gobbles everyone up, holy crap, you can’t get past him.

This was after he was drafted, sounds like he's still panicky Pete out there? It's only 7 months but hopefully he can really work on this part of his game, might be the toughest one though, he's got all the other tools.

 

[NJDfan86]

It is important to remember the circumstances when we talk about younger defenders with the puck - very few 17/18 year olds have to make plays as quickly as Silayev does facing KHL players. You have to imagine that he would look very composed playing against players his own age. Imagine him playing against CHL or AHL players.

We would all love him to be better on the puck today, but if he was great with the puck in the KHL already we wouldn’t have picked him where we did. We haven’t had the opportunity to see him against age appropriate peers in a few years since Russia has been off the international circuit.

 

[evnted]

This was after he was drafted, sounds like he's still panicky Pete out there? It's only 7 months but hopefully he can really work on this part of his game, might be the toughest one though, he's got all the other tools.

absolutely room for improvement, i wouldnt call it a strength by any means, although i think today was a bit of an outlier in terms of how he had been trending. hes been showing a willingness to circle back and reassess his options when pressured, and in general hes felt more confident on the puck with respect to like breakout decisions and extended carries

the thing that i think gets him most in trouble is really high tempo forecheckers, thats when he starts to get jittery with the puck and can lose his size advantage over how hard the opposing forward plays him. when he plays a meaner, more physical game (which, if we're being fair, is a limited sample size right now), he seems more in control

 

[evnted]

missed a couple shifts at the beginning as a heads up

• little bit more to his passing game in this one. couple successful one-touch attempts, some shovel/backhand passes, really trying to move/shake pressure/manipulate his body while surveying options, etc. nothing we havent seen before, and not every play was the cleanest either, but i thought the success rate today was good and i always like seeing a mix of ideas on display
• branching off that, he had one play where he got the puck at the left point under pressure, drifted back a bit to evade the guy while continuing to stickhandle/protect the puck, and then stepped back up to make a play. unfortunately, he just barely put himself offside in the process, which is goofy, but the composure and presence of mind to (try to) hold strong along the blue line and not feel the need to quickly get the puck off or go for a lap to shake pressure was encouraging. havent seen that much at all from him
• and later in the shift, as fate would have it, he got stripped from behind trying to skate the puck out of the zone and struggled to get it back because of how hard the SPR forecheckers were working him. no real offensive chance generated from it, just the good and the bad of his pressure response on display
• stops were generally good today, liked the defensive stick and physical play out front. tough situation on 1st SPR goal (pk). F going around the net so he tried to quickly cut them off with his stick. issue was, they got the pass off to a streaking, completely open RD who ripped it past silayev's shot block attempt. i do like the aggression and desire to cut off lanes early, but i think in this case he shouldve recognized that, without a skater covering high ice, he was gonna leave too much of the zone exposed by dropping below the goal line

no ot looks again, and no pp to blame it on this time either. still, pretty decent showing. had the couple of blips, including 1 or 2 unforced icings like hes somewhat susceptible to doing, but not bad overall

 

[evnted]

back in action after khl all star break

• smothering defensive play today. got to puck carriers quickly, made very decisive/confident step ups against the rush, used that long reach/stick to engulf attackers, even incorporated his body/fringe hip checks. really great work from silayev to take away space
• if i had one complaint about it, though, his puck receptions werent the cleanest and i felt that, had he been grabbing these pucks more consistently after forcing a strip, he wouldve been that much more effective, particularly in getting a counterattack going
• really took exception to attackers getting near the crease, like constantly jabbing at them even after the whistle. i have no idea why, i just know i liked it
• on puck composure stood out in this one. good/quick decisions under pressure, solid passing looks, even flashed a little creativity like a behind the back bank pass to evade a forechecker deep in his zone. thought one or two tries were overly cute but im fine with it, id rather him trying
• overall felt like he wanted more offensively than he ended up getting. quick to pinch (albeit not irresponsibly), couple near rushes he was jumping up for that didnt materialize. felt like he wanted to activate more than he did, but not a complaint since he still generally made smart plays from the point. got pucks off quickly
• kind of to that point, saw some 4v4 time in the early 3rd, which was new. little bit of a mess unfortunately, felt like he was overplaying things (wiped out on a rush, made a random spin pass to no one) but if nothing else i appreciated him getting experimental with the open ice
• mini scrum at the end of the game (the two goalies had some beef) and silayev was quick to get to the middle of it and hold players off. not fighting by any means, just policing

good stuff today, pretty easy one for TOR but silayev was a reason for that (on the defensive side at least)

quick housekeeping note from end, ive got a busy stretch coming up so the silayev (and traff) updates will likely be a bit more sporadic now. still gonna get viewings in when i can

 

[My3Sons]

back in action after khl all star break

• smothering defensive play today. got to puck carriers quickly, made very decisive/confident step ups against the rush, used that long reach/stick to engulf attackers, even incorporated his body/fringe hip checks. really great work from silayev to take away space
• if i had one complaint about it, though, his puck receptions werent the cleanest and i felt that, had he been grabbing these pucks more consistently after forcing a strip, he wouldve been that much more effective, particularly in getting a counterattack going
• really took exception to attackers getting near the crease, like constantly jabbing at them even after the whistle. i have no idea why, i just know i liked it
• on puck composure stood out in this one. good/quick decisions under pressure, solid passing looks, even flashed a little creativity like a behind the back bank pass to evade a forechecker deep in his zone. thought one or two tries were overly cute but im fine with it, id rather him trying
• overall felt like he wanted more offensively than he ended up getting. quick to pinch (albeit not irresponsibly), couple near rushes he was jumping up for that didnt materialize. felt like he wanted to activate more than he did, but not a complaint since he still generally made smart plays from the point. got pucks off quickly
• kind of to that point, saw some 4v4 time in the early 3rd, which was new. little bit of a mess unfortunately, felt like he was overplaying things (wiped out on a rush, made a random spin pass to no one) but if nothing else i appreciated him getting experimental with the open ice
• mini scrum at the end of the game (the two goalies had some beef) and silayev was quick to get to the middle of it and hold players off. not fighting by any means, just policing

good stuff today, pretty easy one for TOR but silayev was a reason for that (on the defensive side at least)

quick housekeeping note from end, ive got a busy stretch coming up so the silayev (and traff) updates will likely be a bit more sporadic now. still gonna get viewings in when i can

Dude we don’t not pay you to work on other things. Prospect updates need to be your number one priority if you want us to continue to not employ you.