Anton Silayev (D, R, 6’7″, 211, Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, 04/11/2006)
2024 NHL Draft Grade: A
Anton Silayev is a towering 6’7″, 210-pound left-shot defenseman who logged an average of 15:51 of ice time during his draft year in the KHL. His physical stature alone suggests his potential impact on the ice, especially after gaining more experience and off-ice development. Despite still building strength, he displayed an impressive 57% success rate in 50/50 puck battles against older stronger KHL professionals, along with averaging 1.25 body checks per game. Remarkably agile and fluid for his size, Silayev demonstrates smooth lateral movement and adept gap control, crucial skills for shutting down line rushes in the neutral zone. Offensively, he plays a direct and efficient style, boasting a tight 90% pass completion rate during his NHL draft season. While not primarily a power play contributor, his prowess in penalty kill situations on smaller North American ice surfaces is evident. Silayev possesses the potential to become an exceptional NHL defenseman, projected as either a long-term top pairing player or a reliable top-four defenseman tasked with facing opponents’ top lines. Considered a cornerstone player, his development trajectory could significantly impact a team’s success in the NHL playoffs.
KHL: Metallurg Magnitogorsk at Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, January 16, 2024:
Game Grade: B-
Comments: Silayev has shown a ton of improvement over the course of this season but his decision making still leaves us with some concerns. His skating continues to be insanely fluid and allows him to move all over the ice surface with speed. He rushed the puck and activated deep into the offensive zone a few times in this game. On one of those occasions he stole a puck inside the offensive blue line, then walked down the wall with his head up and fired a pass towards the crease, which eventually ended up in the net after a couple whacks by his teammates. He also shows a decent line walking game in the offensive zone. On one occasion he opened his hips to fake out a defender before cutting around him with quick footwork and firing a pass to his teammate along the wall. If he can complete plays like that more consistently he has the ability to become a major threat on a power play unit. His game looks much more relaxed than it did earlier this season but there were still a few moments where he showed how much more work needs to be put into his game. Silayev needs to complete more scans of the ice before he attempts passes. There were far too many times in this game where he attempted passes with his head down and his target was either covered or had moved out of their initial spot by the time the puck was released. His passes were also inaccurate tonight. There were many times where he over/under passed his teammates resulting in bad turnovers. In his defense, there were a few moments where he was much more patient and pulled out of passes when he saw the lane taken away which is a vast improvement compared to some of his earlier games but, he does not do this consistently enough. His shot choices were poor in this game as well. He committed to shots from deep while his head was down and shot them directly into opponents shins nearly every time. Defensively, Silayev is much more relaxed but still shows many of the bad habits seen earlier this season. He has a habit of gluing himself to a man and chasing him around the zone even if he is not a real threat. There was also a moment in this game where he chose to shut down an opponent on the doorstep which gave a wide open shooting lane to the man with the puck which was a questionable choice. He is much less aggressive in defensive transition and makes much better decisions for when to step up. He used to jump on every play and get beaten more often than not but today, he was much more patient and chose smart times to shut down play with a quick poke check. He is going to need to add a lot of strength, especially in his lower body. He has a lot of trouble along the boards and is easily pushed off the puck. There was one play where he attempted to put his body between a man and the net during a defensive rush sequence and his opponent skated through Anton with ease, even knocking him to the ice. His lack of strength gives him no chance to defend physically and he will get bullied in North America if this does not improve. We would also like to see him play a lot less reactionary in his own end. He needs to become better at anticipating plays rather than anxiously waiting for his opponent to come near. Silayev has made a ton of improvements but there are still many parts of his game that leave us worried about his ability to reach the high ceiling many claim that he has.
KHL: Torpedo Nizhny at Severstal Cherepovets, December 21, 2023:
Game Grade: B
Comments: Silayev started this game very well. He looked much calmer with the puck and was executing some difficult passes under pressure to start the breakout. Early on, he also made a couple of nice reads in defensive transition and was able to shut down play on two occasions with well-timed step ups and an active stick. His skating has improved a ton this season. Earlier this year he was a bit clunky and stumbled over his feet, but his straight-line stride has become much more fluid, and he is much more agile than he was before. Unfortunately, as the night went on, he began to regress into the Silayev that I have seen for most of this season. He began rushing his passes and throwing the puck up ice without looking which resulted in multiple icings. Silayev has trouble adapting to changing situations when the puck is on his stick. He often makes an early decision for what he is going to do and even after seeing that the option has been taken away, he still decides to make that choice. There were far too many times in this game where he wound up to shoot, the lane was then taken away and he still had plenty of time to change angle or choice but chose to shoot the puck right into the opponent’s shins. Defensively, Silayev looked very jumpy tonight. He was constantly in motion but there was no method or intention behind his cuts, and it felt like he was just guessing most of the time. He was dragged out of position at times, but I felt that he was actually much better this game with staying in the right spots. He joined some battles behind the net but needs to go in stronger with both his body and stick. He often just hovered around the puck and attempted weak pokes that did not make much of an impact. Silayev’s worst play of the night wound up costing his team a goal. Play was controlled by Severstal in Silayev’s end and the puck was being moved around the outside of the zone. His partner made a play behind the net but was taken out of play when a pass was fired to the slot. Silayev should have stayed in the slot area to close off the shooting lane and block a potential shot but instead, Anton glued himself to a player at the far post which opened up a wide shooting lane which the opponent used and scored with. I think Silayev is a first round quality player, but I do not see the top 10 potential that many seem to rank him as right now. I feel that based on his subpar decision making and puck handling abilities that he would not be a highly touted prospect if he was not 6’7. I feel that his height is propping him up right now and should not be considered for a pick until the late first round. He has a very high ceiling of becoming number 1 defenseman, but his floor is very low and makes me feel that he is not worth the risk with a high draft pick.
KHL: Lokomotiv Yaroslavl at Torpedo Nizhny, November 29, 2023:
Game Grade: B
Comments: This was a better performance from Silayev than I am used to seeing but there were still some concerning parts of his game that I cannot overlook. He was much calmer with the puck tonight and was able to execute a majority of his passes. Silayev is a smooth skating defenseman with the agility to escape from pressure. The problem is that he does not use this gift effectively. When opponents apply pressure to him, Anton immediately coughs up the puck. Any amount of pressure is an automatic turnover, or he ices the puck. Anton has played enough time in the KHL that he should have been able to figure out how to escape tight situations using his feet. He has the ability to do so but seems to run into a mental wall every time. He was a bit more defensively responsible in this game in the fact that he did not get drawn out as far compared to normal. There were still sometimes where he had trouble staying in front of opponents, but he did a much better job than I see from him typically. I would also like to see him keep his feet moving when pressuring opponents in the defensive zone. There were far too many times where I watched him attempt to stop plays with his stick extended and feet stationary. This already does not work at the KHL level and will definitely not begin working once he comes over to North America. I think Silayev is a very risky pick. He has potential to be an absolute monster with his combination of size and mobility, but his floor is far too low for me to feel comfortable drafting him early in the first. Very high-risk player with a great reward if he is willing to put in the work with the right coaching staff to improve his decision making in all three zones.
KHL: Barys Astana at Torpedo Nizhny, November 20, 2023:
Game Grade: C+
Comments: This was a much better performance than I have seen out of Silayev in recent weeks but there are still a lot of problems with his game. Silayev’s skating and passing games were much better than normal tonight. He showed off some agile skating and is able to change directions very quickly due to good edgework. He showed off on the rush tonight, taking the puck long distances multiple times and helped set up in the OZ. He flew up ice with speed and made a couple of nice reads to change lanes and use the width of the ice to make progress into the OZ. Silayev’s passing game was better than normal but there were still some rough decisions that made me worried about his potential. He made a ton of great breakout passes that pushed play up ice but a majority of them were to the first available player in front of him. He made some bad reads on when his teammate was going to cut and over/under passed many times. He threw a dangerous buddy pass to his teammate in the NZ who barely got out of the way of the hit. If any pressure is applied to Silayev when he has the puck you can very easily predict the turnover that is about to happen. He either throws it away without looking or is easily bumped off of the puck. I understand he is still very young and playing against grown men but he has had a ton of time to become more comfortable at this level and has not improved his ability to escape forechecking at all. A majority of Silayev’s shots come from the point and they are inconsistent in their quality. He either fires a heavy shot or an absolute muffin that wobbles in the air on its way to an easy save. Defensively, Anton looked a bit more comfortable than normal but still made a majority of the errors that have caused concern all year. He steps up on just about every rush attempt and gets burned 70% of the time. There were way too many times in this game when I wrote down ‘bad step up in NZ and rush blows past him’ next to #21. He gets burned on nearly every rush and leaves his partner in terrible spots. He was more positionally sound in the DZ than normal but is still drawn out miles away from the cage to pressure pucks that he has no business going after. After this game I feel a bit more comfortable rating Silayev mid to late first but there are still so many problems that have me questioning the hype. Although this was a better game than normal, it was against one of the worst teams in the league and he did not show that much improvement. I understand that a lot of his troubles come due to his lack of strength against grown men but he has not improved much since the start of this year. I am worried a lot of his ratings have been based on the potential of having a 6’7 defenseman in your pool but it seems like a real hail mary to me. I might be eating these words in a few years but I would not draft Silayev earlier than 20th.
KHL: Torpedo Nizhny at Vityaz Moscow Region, November 8, 2023:
Game Grade: C+
Comments: I honestly do not know how to rate Silayev effectively. He honestly seems to be regressing in my opinion and does not look any more comfortable defending at the KHL level than he did early this year. He steps up way too often and chooses poor times to do so. He goes into make plays pretty passively and allows for easy passes around him to keep play moving for opponents. He tries to close off plays with weak checks and they are easily escaped if the forward keeps his feet moving. He was able to shut down a couple plays with poke checks but I’m not sure they would be effective against better players. He also needs a ton of work positionally in the DZ. For some reason he always parks himself on top of his goalie in the crease and basically watches play with his stick in the air from that spot. He is drawn out far very easily and unable to get back if he or a teammate makes an error. His skating is not as impressive as I gave him credit for earlier this season. He has a fluid stride and can pick up good speed for his size but he stumbles and trips over his own feet often. He is agile in the sense that he can move in all directions pretty easily but he does not do so quick enough for it to be a real advantage. His passing decisions were poor tonight. He missed his targets and often quickly whacked the puck towards the first open man he saw. He did not get very much offensive zone time but when he did, he was not much of a factor. He threw weak shots towards the goal from bad angles, many of which were blocked easily by the forward standing directly in front of him. I was really hoping to see him build confidence and further develop his skills as the year went on. He does not control play by any means and very rarely generates chances due to his passing. He is unable to create with the puck and does not know how to manipulate opponents to make his own scoring chances. I think people are too bullish on him due to his size and time spent at the pro level. He has not improved and the problems with his game continue to be a major hindrance in all aspects of his play. His minutes keep on dropping and he was the 7th defenseman in this game. I might want to see him play VHL or MHL minutes to get a better read on how he is compared to other junior defenseman. He does not look like the top 10 pick most are claiming him to be.
KHL: Salavat Yulaev Ufa at Torpedo Nizhny, October 24, 2023:
Game Grade: B
Comments: I have been up and down on Silayev so far this season but thought he played a good game tonight. He was much more responsible defensively than I have seen in other games this season. He was much more calculated when he chose to step on opponents and executed well timed pokes to attempt to shut down play. One play in particular, he saw his opponent in a vulnerable position with their back turned to him while receiving a pass and Silayev jumped on top of him to break up the chance with his stick. He also showed an ability to back off from his step ups which I had not seen previously. In the past he over committed to defensive plays and often got burnt when they did not work. Tonight he was aware of when situations were about to go south, and quickly backed off and got back into position. This is a very responsible IQ trait that he seems to be working on and if he can keep this up, my concerns about his defensive decision making will slowly be resolved. He attempted to shut down plays in defensive transition with a surf towards the boards but struggled with his timing and would have gotten burnt if he had been 1v1 with a quicker opponent. He needs to fix the angle that he attacks the forward with as he ended up behind the player on the two occasions I took note of. Offensively he had an ok game. He made a couple of nice breakout passes and was more patient with the puck than I saw in my last viewing. There were still a number of times where he rushed passes or shots into covered lanes. There was one activation where he jumped high into the NZ and received a pass. He had the opportunity to beat the defender 1v1 if he had made a quick burst of speed to the outside but held up and decided to go heel to heel while scanning for a pass. This took away all of his options and he was forced to throw a poor pass attempt towards the slot. I noticed a ton of improvement in his decision making ability on both sides of the puck but overall he still needs a lot of work. I was much happier with this viewing of Silayev and think he shows more potential to be a lottery pick in this year’s draft than I had previously given him credit for. He is definitely a risk but the potential payout could be huge.
KHL: Ak Bars Kazan at Torpedo Nizhny, September 28, 2023:
Game Grade: B
Comments: Silayev is a massive 6’6’+ left shot defensemen with a deep knee athletic skating posture and long fluid strides. It’s almost shocking how fluid his strides are when you realized you’re looking at such a massive young defender. He tends to be a bit of a rover who is in constant motion. During defensive neutral zone transition he showed nice game awareness and the confidence in his feet to attack the intended passing target while the puck was still on it’s way to the man. He played with an extended stick and a hidden poke check. As the net front defender in the defensive zone he showed patience at the near post and a quick first three steps when closing on an opponent to end the cycle. He hit pinned and stuck his man to the wall not allowing him to jump past him into the open ice behind the contact. Silayev finished forth among Nizhny Novgorod’s defenders with 17:42 in total ice time including being second among defenders with 2:56 of power play ice time. He did not kill penalties and he was -1 on a goal that he really had very little to do with. He ran the power play from the top of the umbrella and the majority of the time he showed deception by skating away from his intended passing target, but there were too many times that he forced passes into the bumper when he really did not need to. Silayev finished with 2 shots on net with both being long sweeping snap shots from outside the face-off dots and one of those coming on the power play from near the blueline that the opposing goaltender casually deflected out of play which effectively ended a power play sequence that had Ak Bars Kazan running around the defensive zone. On the night he finished with 0 hits, received 3 hard hits, had an additional 2 point shots blocked, had 3 giveaways and was second on his team with 9 takeaways. Silayev currently has a ‘B’ 2024 NHL draft grade from Neutral Zone but it is easy to see that grade moving higher.