It’s that time of the year for The Win Column’s NHL Draft Rankings and Draft Profiles! The 2024 NHL Draft will be held on June 28 and 29 at The Sphere in Las Vegas.
Up next in our rankings is Russian defenseman Anton Silayev.
In a draft dominated by high ceiling defenders, Silayev projects to be one of the best of the group. He’s been ranked as high as second overall on some draft boards, including on those from top experts in the business Bob McKenzie, Cory Pronman, and Sam Cosentino.
The emergence of a few other players has moved Silayev down a couple slots recently, but he could easily go in the top three, and is a lock to go in the top 10.
Who is Anton Silayev?
| Player | Position | Handedness | Height | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anton Silayev | D | Left | 6′ 7″ | 207lbs |
Silayev is a Russian defenseman who is committed to the KHL for the next two seasons after the draft.
Silayev’s on-ice production
| Year | Draft Relative | League | Team | GP | G | A | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022–23 | D-1 | MHL | Chaika Nizhny Novgorod | 41 | 2 | 6 | 8 |
| 2023–24 | D+0 | KHL | Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod | 63 | 3 | 8 | 11 |
Silayev is a defensive defenseman, towering at an absolutely massive 6’7″, and played his entire draft season in the top Russian league, the KHL. That’s impressive just on its own. The top Russian draft eligible players usually only play a handful of KHL games in their draft year; to play the full year there and be a reliable and effective player is extremely rare, and extremely impressive.
While he’s committed to the KHL for the next two seasons after the draft, Silayev would immediately step into the NHL lineup once he comes over to North America. He’s regularly playing 20 minutes a night against some of the top professional competition in the world.
Silayev’s strengths
Defense first
By all accounts, Silayev is one of the best shutdown defensemen in the draft. His biggest strength is his size. Silayev is truly imposing on the ice and covers a massive area with an exceptionally long reach. He uses his size very well to defend against the rush, something very important in today’s NHL.
Silayev uses his stick and powerful strides to close gaps very well, and plays very aggressively against opposing offenses. Because he’s so big, it’s very hard to beat him wide along the boards, or deke around him with regular success.
These types of defensive skills are very translatable. The only issue that young players face with adapting defensive acumen to the NHL is the speed of the game. However, Silayev is a smart defensive player and should have no issues adapting to the fast paced NHL.
Beating Silayev is a tall order. If you don’t get slammed into the boards, you’ll get pokechecked, or angled wide. There’s a reason he’s playing so many minutes as a draft eligible in the KHL.
Exceptional skating
What makes Silayev special is not his size alone, but the fact that he combines his stature with exceptional skating ability. The biggest risk with large players is their skating and speed. For Silayev, this isn’t even close to being an issue, and instead is one of his most impressive strengths.
It seems like the very first thing scouts point out when talking about Silayev is how impressive his skating is considering his size. Not only does he have solid top speed when skating in straight lines, he’s also very agile and can match offenses in transition very well. This is one of the reasons why he’s so good at defending the rush and why he’s so hard to beat entering the zone.
His skating is very fluid and when mixed with his frame, it’s a lethal combination.
Untapped potential
Silayev hasn’t been on the radar of scouts for very long. He broke onto the scene just over a year ago mostly due to his size, and the fact that he started playing huge minutes in the KHL as a teenager.
Generally, top Russian junior players don’t get the the opportunity that Silayev has had this season. They usually get bottom-six or third-pair duties, minimal power play time, and have to earn their stripes in the second best league in the world. But Silayev is different, and for good reason.
He immediately started playing 20 minutes a night, got to run the power play, and really took advantage of the opportunity. He might not wow you with elite skill, but he really works hard on the defensive end and rarely compromises chances the other way.
There’s a lot leading scouts to believe that Silayev is just scratching the surface.
Silayev’s areas of improvement
Offense
The biggest knock on Silayev is that he has almost zero offensive game. At the start of the year, he was a point per game player for a few weeks or so, but that dried up and hasn’t come back. Even shutdown defenders in the NHL had production as junior players. With Silayev, it’s a bit different since he’s playing in the KHL, but it’s something to note.
It’s very possible that Silayev is forgoing the offensive side to focus solely on defense in an effort to maintain his ice time in the KHL. Regardless, it would definitely elevate Silayev’s stock if he was putting up some kind of consistent production.
The one thing that he does do very frequently is make a solid first pass out of his zone. This is a skill that scouts point to as the most important thing for a defenseman to have in order to make it in the NHL. Silayev definitely has it. He also has a decent wrist shot, but nothing to write home about.
Decision making
Silayev’s hallmark on defense is his rush defense. However, this can sometimes fall apart when teams do gain the zone, or they win an offensive zone faceoff. Silayev can have trouble defending the cycle and he often ends up between players rather than on his mark. He is aggressive on D which, when the opposing team has a good cycle, can leave two guys on offense open along the wall.
This is a concerning trait considering NHL teams love to play the cycle game, especially in the playoffs. This is teachable, and there’s no doubt Silayev will improve his cycle defense, but right now it’s very much an area of improvement for him.
Silayev comparables
It’s tough to pick a true comparable for Silayev, as he possesses traits from several notable NHLers. He has the size and mobility of Nikita Zadorov, the poise and pedigree of Victor Hedman, the physicality of Zdeno Chara, and the defense of Chris Tanev.
The truest comparable might be Zadorov, but with twice the skill.
Fit with the Flames
The Flames have added several defenders to their cupboards this season, but their highest ceiling guys are all offense first defensemen. Jeremie Poirier, Hunter Brzustewicz, and Etienne Morin are not the same type of player as Silayev, and the Flames really don’t have an elite shutdown guy in their system right now.
You need players like Silayev to win championships, and adding him to the system would definitely be a boost. Add in the fact that he’s committed to the KHL for two more seasons, and his arrival to the NHL lines up perfectly with when the Flames aim to be truly competitive again.
It likely makes more sense for them to select a defender with more two-way upside, or a centerman, but taking Silayev if he does fall to them would be a solid choice.
Summary
Silayev burst onto the scene this year and has a ton of untapped potential as a dominant defenseman in the NHL. He has the size and skating to be in the league already, but is committed to the KHL for two more seasons.
Some have ranked Silayev as high as second overall on their boards, and while that is likely a bit high for the player, there are few who believe he will be on the board past fifth overall. This is a player almost guaranteed to have a long, long NHL career, and is the type of player you can build a strong defense around.
Risk: 1/5
Reward: 5/5
NHL comparison: Nikita Zadorov, but better
Projection: elite shutdown defender
Check out all of The Win Column’s individual player profiles of selected 2024 NHL Draft prospects:
Macklin Celebrini | Ivan Demidov | Artyom Levshunov | Sam Dickinson | Cayden Lindstrom | Berkly Catton | Cole Eiserman | Zeev Buium | Konsta Helenius | Zayne Parekh | Carter Yakemchuk | Anton Silayev | Tij Iginla | Adam Jiricek | Michael Brandsegg-Nygard | Liam Greentree | Igor Chernyshov | Trevor Connelly | Aron Kiviharju | Michael Hage | Ryder Ritchie | Sacha Boisvert | Nikita Artamonov
