New Jersey Devils select Anton Silayev No. 10 overall in 2024 NHL Draft

Credit: Anton Silayev (Yuri Kuzmin/KHL)

One of the best defensemen from overseas heard his name called by the NHL.

On Friday at The Sphere in Las Vegas, the New Jersey Devils took Anton Silayev in the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft, No. 10 overall.

Silayev might not have been a sexy choice to the average fan’s eye, but there is a lot to like about his game. Hence, why NHL Central Scouting had him placed as the top prospect among international skaters heading into the draft. Daily Faceoff draft expert Steven Ellis said Silayev is the no. 11 prospect heading into Sin City.

“I truly believe Silayev is the best at actually playing defense, but he lacks the offensive stylings the others do,” Ellis stated. “There aren’t a whole lot of big defenders who can skate as well as Silayev does, and his ice time in the KHL is something that has never been seen by someone his age. He’s going to be a star in a few years.”

The 6-foot-7 defenseman played a ton this past season with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the Kontinental Hockey League. Even as a 17-year-old rookie, he was playing close to 20 minutes a game and, for the most part, proved he could play against the other team’s best.

Silayev had a good start to the 2023-24 campaign on the offensive end, but tailed off as the grind of the season wore on. Still, he ended up with three goals and 11 points in 63 games, posting two assists in five playoff games.

With Silayev’s size, he takes a lot of space away. He moves extremely well, fundamentally sound when gapping up to oncoming forwards. At 207 pounds, he is able to move traffic away from the front of the net, a trait he also showed while playing with Chalka Nizhny Novgorod of the MHL over parts of the last two years. Silayev played the entire 2022-23 season with Chalka, scoring eight points in 41 games, and played in the remaining 10 playoff games with the team this year after the Torpedo was eliminated.

Though he hasn’t been able to represent Russia on the big international stage over the past couple of years due to the IIHF ban, the Sarova native has spent some time wearing his country’s colors. Silayev was the captain of the Under-16 team during the 2021-22 season, serving as an alternate captain of the U-17 team in 2022-23.