KHL action with the home Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod beating Ak Bars Kazan 2-1. Neutral Zone focused on 2024 first year NHL draft eligible players Anton Silayev (D) and late 2005 Nikita Artamonov (RW).
| Anton Silayev | Nizhny Novgorod | KHL | R | D | 6’6″ | 202 | Sarov, RUS | 2006 | 2023-2024: B |
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.
| Nikita Artamonov | Nizhny Novgorod | KHL | L | RW | 5’11” | 183 | Nizhnekamsk, RUS | 2005 | 2023-2024: B- |
Game Grade: B
Comments: Artamonov is a high energy , high intensity left shot left wing with an explosive first step and the type of glide where he subtly uses his inside edges to maintain and even generate speed. He stops on a dime while keeping his knees over his toes so he can pounce in any direction. It was obvious that his energy is annoying to the other team as he was consistently getting hacks and whacks to his shinpads or the tops of his laces at face-offs. He played first line left wing and finished third among Nizhny Novgorod’s forwards with 19:56 in total ice time including being forth among forwards with 4:09 of power play ice time. He did not kill penalties. He had two shots on net with one being a catch and release snap shot back against the grain that beat the goalie low to his glove side. It was not a rocket but it was well placed. On the night he finished even with 1 goal, 2 shots, 1 grade “A” opportunity, 0 hits, and while we loved his willingness to take a hit or fearlessly skate into impending contact we feel that being on the receiving end of 5 hard body checks is just too many for a 5’10”, 180lbs winger. He also had 3 additional shots blocked, had 1 takeaway and was second in the game with a total of 7 giveaways. At this point he has a “B-” 2024 NHL draft grade from Neutral Zone.
Logo Courtesy of Nizhny Novgorod