Confirmed with Link: Canucks Re-Sign G Arturs Silovs to 2-Year Contract, $0.85M AAV Contract

[pitseleh]

Nice to get the extra year locked down at that price. A bit of upside with basically no downside.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

Excellent... now I hope that they trust him enough to rest Demko on the regular.

I think this is the strategy of the new giant goaltender era. Giant goaltenders can be amazing, but they breakdown. Markstrom is the post boy for this, but Demko's looking that way too. Smart teams are going to have to go 60/40 with two good goalies, hopefully underpaying for one of them... like we seem to have managed to do here.

Its not about the size of the goalies.

Its the evolution of the position. The post integration techniques applied today, as an example, are extremely taxing on the hips and knees.

 

[VanJack]

Recently TSN's Marty Biron rated the goaltending for the seven NHL franchises--and Vancouver came out the clear winner.

They're also a big winner in terms of the salary cap. Demko and now Silovs are costing the Canucks
$5.85M a season for the next two years. Got to easily be the best value goalie tandem in the entire NHL.

 

[biturbo19]

Nice. Definitely expected about $150-250k per year more on this deal. Obviously not a huge earth shattering savings, but every little bit helps. Especially by the deadline where these little savings can add up and help out just that extra little bit with trying to fit in some nice deadline acquisitions to fill out depth where it's needed.

Guess the haggling over that little bit extra is why this deal took a little bit longer than expected. Worth the wait though.


Now we just have to hope he can carry over that play from the playoffs last year, and hopefully even continue to build on it. So they can trust him with some significant workload to help keep Demko more fresh.

Though with Demko, i'm not even sure if it's purely too much workload, or that he's just a little injury prone. A lot of his injuries haven't felt like the byproduct of being leaned on particularly to heavily. Often more just kinda freak things that seem to happen. Sometimes even on totally innocuous plays out of nowhere. Still doesn't hurt to have a guy who can potentially siphon off even more of those starts than DeSmith did, and still potentially do a little more than your typical "career backup" like that in terms of upside.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Nice. Definitely expected about $150-250k per year more on this deal. Obviously not a huge earth shattering savings, but every little bit helps. Especially by the deadline where these little savings can add up and help out just that extra little bit with trying to fit in some nice deadline acquisitions to fill out depth where it's needed.

Guess the haggling over that little bit extra is why this deal took a little bit longer than expected. Worth the wait though.


Now we just have to hope he can carry over that play from the playoffs last year, and hopefully even continue to build on it. So they can trust him with some significant workload to help keep Demko more fresh.

Though with Demko, i'm not even sure if it's purely too much workload, or that he's just a little injury prone. A lot of his injuries haven't felt like the byproduct of being leaned on particularly to heavily. Often more just kinda freak things that seem to happen. Sometimes even on totally innocuous plays out of nowhere. Still doesn't hurt to have a guy who can potentially siphon off even more of those starts than DeSmith did, and still potentially do a little more than your typical "career backup" like that in terms of upside.

Yeah, it’s kind of bizarre that Demko has only had one season where he’s started 60+ games. I get that it’s not an exact formula of starter to backup starts, but have regularly letting him rest, even if he’s red hot, might be helpful. Especially if Silovs proves up to the task.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

I think we may have one of the most talented goalie tandems in the league.

But at the same time one of the most unreliable duos. Silovs lost the starter job in AHL this past season. Demko has proven to be unreliable as far as his health goes.

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Its not about the size of the goalies.

Its the evolution of the position. The post integration techniques applied today, as an example, are extremely taxing on the hips and knees.

Agreed, but the size of these goalies puts even more stress on the hips and knees.

 

[Hit the post]

Yeah, it’s kind of bizarre that Demko has only had one season where he’s started 60+ games. I get that it’s not an exact formula of starter to backup starts, but have regularly letting him rest, even if he’s red hot, might be helpful. Especially if Silovs proves up to the task.

We got used to Luongo being like a machine starting 60+ games a season. Heck, even in his first two full season returning to Florida, Luongo was starting 60+ games a season with save percentages at 0.920+. But he's a freak of nature like Chelios.

 

[ChilliBilly]

Not a chance he doesn't get the back up roll. The send him to Abby, not a chance in hell he doesn't get claimed. If someone else wins the back up roll, they will shop him through the league. I would guess he would get a decent return ...

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

the contract is great obviously, locking in a second year at a low AAV

but i suspect given the run silovs had in the playoffs there must have been a handshake agreement here, where if he shows he is a legit top 15-20 starter, the team will find a spot for him somewhere else in a reasonably timely manner.

in this scenario, everybody wins. the canucks get a cost effective backup with a high ceiling that they already trust. silovs gets to keep developing under ian clark. silovs has the inside track if demko gets hurt or breaks down physically in a longer term way and gets shot his shot somewhere else if he’s ready and demko is in his way. and the canucks max out his trade value with practically a minimum contract.

from silovs’ side, that’s probably worth the $150k/year he is leaving on the table and giving up the possibility that he earns a raise in year two. from the canucks side, they are getting enough value in return to give him the one way, which maybe doesn’t even matter because he’d never clear anyway.

 

[Javaman]

My prediction is coming true lol.

Anyways, my one sincere hope for the upcoming season is that the emergence of Silovs keeps Demko at 55 starts or less.

 

[LickTheEnvelope]

It's the question I've been pondering this entire time. They don't have enough capspace to accrue anything meaningful nor can they absorb any injuries that would require IR. They can get to about 1m in space by waiving Aman instead of PDG and waiving one of Friedman/Juulsen. They can't play the recall game because, as of right now, don't project to have anyone on the roster that isn't eligible for waivers. They could do it by sneaking people through waivers early on but that will run out pretty quickly given the games player and days on roster requirements before those players are eligible for waivers again. So to even do that you have to get through training camp completely healthy, which the Canucks haven't been able to do the last two seasons.

The easiest thing to do is bite the bullet and find a way to trade Poolman's contract.

I wonder if they can up the trade with Poolman's contract to pickup an AHLer who is on the cusp of call-up duties.

 

[FroshaugFan2]

easy, just don't sign patera

The risk of signing a more established backup/ 3rd goalie is they would be much more likely to be claimed off of waivers than Patera. To me Patera is about as good of a 3rd goalie you can sign without risking losing them on waivers.

I think it's time to give Silovs a real shot in the NHL, so I like how they handled the goalies this offseason. If you're not confident in Silovs and think he could lose the backup job in preseason, then I can see wanting someone more established than Patera.

 

[credulous]

The risk of signing a more established backup/ 3rd goalie is they would be much more likely to be claimed off of waivers than Patera. To me Patera is about as good of a 3rd goalie you can sign without risking losing them on waivers.

I think it's time to give Silovs a real shot in the NHL, so I like how they handled the goalies this offseason. If you're not confident in Silovs and think he could lose the backup job in preseason, then I can see wanting someone more established than Patera.

they could have signed a veteran backup and just carried three goalies when they want silovs to play. silovs is still waiver eligible so there's no real risk in having him spend part of the season in abbotsford

the issue with silovs and patera as the #2/#3 guys is that if demko misses significant time (and when does he not) you're really counting on silovs to step up. i think he's a good prospect but i think he was pretty bad in the playoffs and i'm not confident in him as even a part time starter

 

[VanJack]

There's a lot more riding on Silovs this season....almost as much or more than Demko. In a perfect world, Demko would get no more than 45-50 starts.....and Silovs starting anywhere from 30-40.

Above all else, if you assume that the Canucks will be a playoff team in 2024-25, then they'll need both goalies healthy and relatively fresh heading into the post-season.

 

[alternate]

the contract is great obviously, locking in a second year at a low AAV

but i suspect given the run silovs had in the playoffs there must have been a handshake agreement here, where if he shows he is a legit top 15-20 starter, the team will find a spot for him somewhere else in a reasonably timely manner.

in this scenario, everybody wins. the canucks get a cost effective backup with a high ceiling that they already trust. silovs gets to keep developing under ian clark. silovs has the inside track if demko gets hurt or breaks down physically in a longer term way and gets shot his shot somewhere else if he’s ready and demko is in his way. and the canucks max out his trade value with practically a minimum contract.

from silovs’ side, that’s probably worth the $150k/year he is leaving on the table and giving up the possibility that he earns a raise in year two. from the canucks side, they are getting enough value in return to give him the one way, which maybe doesn’t even matter because he’d never clear anyway.

Best case is in two years Silovs has made Demko expendable. Ideally Demko becomes TDL material in the last year of his contract, but even if he's allowed to walk as a UFA and we avoid the big ticket goalie contract while seamlessly moving on to Silovs and his first "established NHLer" contract.

 

[LordBacon]

Best case is in two years Silovs has made Demko expendable. Ideally Demko becomes TDL material in the last year of his contract, but even if he's allowed to walk as a UFA and we avoid the big ticket goalie contract while seamlessly moving on to Silovs and his first "established NHLer" contract.

I still remember being impressed when Demko made it to the team,
now we're talking about potentially trading him in 2 years because he's due for a big UFA contract at 31 y/o.

Feels old man.

 

[jd22]

I still remember being impressed when Demko made it to the team,
now we're talking about potentially trading him in 2 years because he's due for a big UFA contract at 31 y/o.

Feels old man.

It is not going to be pretty, his next contract with his injury history.

 

[tantalum]

He has earned a backup role. He has been the best goaltender on the farm and when asked to play in the NHL he has been good enough. I say good enough because he hasn't been spectacular but he also hasn't shit the bed. That's essentially what a goaltender needs to do to move into the NHL as a backup.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Best case is in two years Silovs has made Demko expendable. Ideally Demko becomes TDL material in the last year of his contract, but even if he's allowed to walk as a UFA and we avoid the big ticket goalie contract while seamlessly moving on to Silovs and his first "established NHLer" contract.

i believe in demko and think if healthy he can win multiple vezinas and will a team to a cup

imo best case scenario is the cap keeps going up, demko stays healthy with a 60-40 split, silovs keeps developing, and next year we give demko the raise he’s earned with enough room to comfortably come back a year later to give hughes a lifetime deal and trade silovs on his crazy cheap deal for a haul.

 

[Hit the post]

I still remember being impressed when Demko made it to the team,
now we're talking about potentially trading him in 2 years because he's due for a big UFA contract at 31 y/o.

Feels old man.

 

[VanJack]

Demko has two years left on his $5m contract. I suppose a lot will depend on how he plays, but even if he's lights out again, I seriously wonder about how likely it is the Canucks sign him to a big extension.

He could be looking for Bobrovsky or Shesterkin kind of money. And I doubt the Canucks would ever be willing to cough up $10m-plus a season for goaltending.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

 

[VanJack]

The fact that the Canucks haven't gone out and signed a veteran backup goalie, and now no longer have the cap space to sign one anyway, means the job of 'backup' belongs to Silovs.

But it'll be an adjustment for him, playing only very third or fourth game. That's what made DeSmith so effective. He could sit for weeks, and than come in on a tough back-to-back on the road, and give you a solid performance.

But clearly the Canucks have some insurance on the farm in Petera, who's an experienced AHL goalie, or Tolopilo who was actually better than Silovs for large stretches of last year's season in Abbotsford.

And for 'prospect goalies' they still have Ty Young and eventually Harvard's Aku Koskenuvo, who shone at Development Camp.

Canucks goaltending is in a very good place right now---which is a lot more than you say for 70-80 percent of the teams in the NHL.

 

[RobertKron]

The fact that the Canucks haven't gone out and signed a veteran backup goalie, and now no longer have the cap space to sign one anyway, means the job of 'backup' belongs to Silovs.

But it'll be an adjustment for him, playing only very third or fourth game. That's what made DeSmith so effective. He could sit for weeks, and than come in on a tough back-to-back on the road, and give you a solid performance.

But clearly the Canucks have some insurance on the farm in Petera, who's an experienced AHL goalie, or Tolopilo who was actually better than Silovs for large stretches of last year's season in Abbotsford.

And for 'prospect goalies' they still have Ty Young and eventually Harvard's Aku Koskenuvo, who shone at Development Camp.

Canucks goaltending is in a very good place right now---which is a lot more than you say for 70-80 percent of the teams in the NHL.

Wait, isn’t it a “fact that all the later round draft picks of the Benning years, either age out as prospects or don't get signed to begin with”?