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.

 

[evnted]

originally thought this game was tomorrow and i was gonna miss it

• uncharacteristically rough first shift. had time/space for a breakout pass up the boards and sent it out of his F's reach, which he followed up by misjudging a blue line stand up attempt against the counterattack and getting passed by pretty easily in the process
• basically teed up the KRS goal himself. tried to send the puck up the ice from below his goal line to a F who very obviously wasnt a viable option and got picked off. i have no idea how he didnt see the KRS attacker creeping in. even if he connected on it, the guy wouldve just been insta stripped anyway. some brutal passing vision/decision making on this one
• body play felt a bit off, didnt really show that same aggression out front. at one point he got completely stood up/planted at the point and i mean i know hes not the sturdiest/most coordinated guy on the team, but its not like the opp came barrelling in on him
• his minutes didnt really get slashed per se, but by the mid 2nd it felt like he wasnt getting as many looks (ie there was an entire pk he didnt come out for, which is pretty atypical). did have a couple stronger defensive shifts to end the period. better intensity on them
• 3rd period was so much better, its crazy. more jump to his step, more of that swagger with his defensive stick, just making more plays overall
• had two really high danger chances early on. first was good support jumping up on the rush looking for a pass while crashing the net. got a decent backhander off on a bouncing puck but more importantly drew a hooking call that led to the go ahead pp goal. second was a real nice entry/carry up the boards on a delayed call. dodged one defender and sent the puck through the legs of another to find his F crashing the net for a good look
• made some crazy play on the backcheck to stop a counterattack. KRS sauce attempt to try to spring a breakaway and he bats it down mid air and chips it up the ice behind him to find a teammate

this was gonna be a very different tone had the 3rd period not gone as well as it did. puck play was still a mess, i just got tired of writing about it (his mitigation attempt as the game went on was to hold onto the puck as long as possible while surverying every option, which still resulted in turnovers). but the stops, the intensity, the offensive integration, all of it took a massive step forward in the final 20 minutes. certainly not my favorite viewing, a lot of the things people are concerned about were on full display in the first two frames, but a nice midgame adjustment to get things more on track

 

[BurntToast]

@evnted

Is this the best area for Development? I am starting to feel he is more Boom//Bust type.

 

[evnted]

@evnted

Is this the best area for Development? I am starting to feel he is more Boom//Bust type.

yes, i like him under the watch of larionov, i think he has a good feel for where young players are at and when/how to ramp up/dial back their deployment (hes also overseeing artamonov from the same draft)

silayev's defensive contributions are at such an advanced level that i dont think you really could put him anywhere else, and thats not to mention the tremendous tool advantage hed post in any lower league (i mean, even in the 2nd best league in the world he has a major tool advantage). the scoring rate might not reflect it but i think hes better now than he was last year at incorporating offensive looks. coming out of the draft, in terms of off zone play, i think the only thing i really praised was his off puck movemet/ideas. now hes doing stuff on puck and starting to turn looks into chances

really, the only thing i think i see him getting overwhelmed by is puck play, and thats still only at times. theres progress with decision making, theres progress with responsiveness to pressure, its just more gradual and not as consistent. but i wouldnt change anything about where hes playing over that, he still largely looks the part of a solid khl play stopper. mistakes happen, particularly for an 18yo, today just wasnt the best showing

and i definitely dont think hes boom or bust, in fact, in terms of 2024 eligibles, he was probably the safest bet behind celebrini to have a long term career. maybe the outlook of a slavin type play stopper vs a tyler myers type play stopper has a boom/bust element to it, but i have no doubt he'll be a player, and useful one, at that

 

[Clam Jensen]

yes, i like him under the watch of larionov, i think he has a good feel for where young players are at and when/how to ramp up/dial back their deployment (hes also overseeing artamonov from the same draft)

silayev's defensive contributions are at such an advanced level that i dont think you really could put him anywhere else, and thats not to mention the tremendous tool advantage hed post in any lower league (i mean, even in the 2nd best league in the world he has a major tool advantage). the scoring rate might not reflect it but i think hes better now than he was last year at incorporating offensive looks. coming out of the draft, in terms of off zone play, i think the only thing i really praised was his off puck movemet/ideas. now hes doing stuff on puck and starting to turn looks into chances

really, the only thing i think i see him getting overwhelmed by is puck play, and thats still only at times. theres progress with decision making, theres progress with responsiveness to pressure, its just more gradual and not as consistent. but i wouldnt change anything about where hes playing over that, he still largely looks the part of a solid khl play stopper. mistakes happen, particularly for an 18yo, today just wasnt the best showing

and i definitely dont think hes boom or bust, in fact, in terms of 2024 eligibles, he was probably the safest bet behind celebrini to have a long term career. maybe the outlook of a slavin type play stopper vs a tyler myers type play stopper has a boom/bust element to it, but i have no doubt he'll be a player, and useful one, at that

I know they’re vastly different players, but would you have preferred Dickinson or Buuim?

 

[evnted]

I know they’re vastly different players, but would you have preferred Dickinson or Buuim?

get ready for a bit of a non answer lmao

i had those two ranked a couple spots ahead of silayev, that is true. my stance on the clock, though, was that i wouldve been happy with any of the LDs. all three presented good value, both in terms of pick return and organizational utility, and it felt fortunate that we had the freedom to choose because i wasnt convinced even one was gonna be available. the thing with drafts is its so rare to get your personal, ideal pick that its hard to care too strongly about one, singular outcome (outside of like a nico vs nolan type debate)

i dont think its hard to claim that buium is a better prospect. the issue with picking him stemmed from our long term blue line composition. luke/nemo/zeev/casey is one of those things that sounds fun on paper but could run into issue in terms of dedicated play stopping/pking/physicality/so on. i cant take credit for the line because its too good, but i remember reading on here something to the effect of "picking zeev wouldve started a countdown to a casey trade" and i firmly believe that wouldve been the case, the unit wouldve been too redundant

dickinson is probably more debatable, but i did like him a bit more, and this offensive boom was fairly easy to predict for anyone who was paying attention. lots to like about his projection, even in spite of a rocky wjc, and a bit more of a two-way specialist than either of the other two options. if the team wanted the absolute best player on the defensive end, although i do like his projection there, he wasnt it

with silayev, they didnt just pick some boring defensive guy, they found a legitimately rare archetype of a player in the process. the one thing i really tried to drive home on draft night was that they nabbed a player who would make the lives of luke/nemo/casey easier, which i would not have been able to say for the other two players (particularly buium). so, yes, in a vacuum, i wouldve preferred the other two slightly more, but in terms of overall roster benefit, i do believe we made the right choice

basically, i view it like im at the draft table. i would present my list, explain my preferences, and hear other arguments. if, and i assume this was the case, there were scouts in there pounding the table for silayev saying how desperately we needed to add him to our long term blue line outlook, i wouldnt have fought them on bucking my board, 3-11 (or w/e i had it at) was a tight enough range for me

the other thing to note is that i trust this regimes ability to find D talent at the draft, particularly out of russia, so when i hear marty leak that we had silayev ranked 4th, its not insignificant to me

 

[Clam Jensen]

get ready for a bit of a non answer lmao

i had those two ranked a couple spots ahead of silayev, that is true. my stance on the clock, though, was that i wouldve been happy with any of the LDs. all three presented good value, both in terms of pick return and organizational utility, and it felt fortunate that we had the freedom to choose because i wasnt convinced even one was gonna be available. the thing with drafts is its so rare to get your personal, ideal pick that its hard to care too strongly about one, singular outcome (outside of like a nico vs nolan type debate)

i dont think its hard to claim that buium is a better prospect. the issue with picking him stemmed from our long term blue line composition. luke/nemo/zeev/casey is one of those things that sounds fun on paper but could run into issue in terms of dedicated play stopping/pking/physicality/so on. i cant take credit for the line because its too good, but i remember reading on here something to the effect of "picking zeev wouldve started a countdown to a casey trade" and i firmly believe that wouldve been the case, the unit wouldve been too redundant

dickinson is probably more debatable, but i did like him a bit more, and this offensive boom was fairly easy to predict for anyone who was paying attention. lots to like about his projection, even in spite of a rocky wjc, and a bit more of a two-way specialist than either of the other two options. if the team wanted the absolute best player on the defensive end, although i do like his projection there, he wasnt it

with silayev, they didnt just pick some boring defensive guy, they found a legitimately rare archetype of a player in the process. the one thing i really tried to drive home on draft night was that they nabbed a player who would make the lives of luke/nemo/casey easier, which i would not have been able to say for the other two players (particularly buium). so, yes, in a vacuum, i wouldve preferred the other two slightly more, but in terms of overall roster benefit, i do believe we made the right choice

basically, i view it like im at the draft table. i would present my list, explain my preferences, and hear other arguments. if, and i assume this was the case, there were scouts in there pounding the table for silayev saying how desperately we needed to add him to our long term blue line outlook, i wouldnt have fought them on bucking my board, 3-11 (or w/e i had it at) was a tight enough range for me

the other thing to note is that i trust this regimes ability to find D talent at the draft, particularly out of russia, so when i hear marty leak that we had silayev ranked 4th, its not insignificant to me

Appreciate your insights! Truly enjoy reading all of your posts and the “why” behind your perspectives.

 

[NjdevilfanJim]

Appreciate your insights! Truly enjoy reading all of your posts and the “why” behind your perspectives.

Now if we could get My3Sons to start paying evnted we would be golden...