BREAKING: Devils Draft Massive Defenseman Anton Silayev 10th Overall

The New Jersey Devils had a choice. They could trade the 10th overall selection at the 2024 NHL Draft, or they could use it to make a selection. After a few surprises through the first nine picks of the draft, the Devils opted to keep their pick and draft. The Devils selected the massive defenseman out of Russia, Anton Silyev.

Silayev is a giant, physical, defensive defenseman who already boasts NHL size, standing tall at 6-foot-7, 207 lbs.

According to his EliteProspects profile, “Silayev’s a giant defenceman with the skating ability to cover any area of the ice in the blink of an eye. His form is perfect, whether you look at his posture, the flexibility through his ankles, knees, and hips, or the overall output. With that explosive skating stride comes a vast defensive range and a willingness to activate into the play.”

In The Athletic’s final mock draft of the 2024 NHL Draft, Silyev was projected to go third overall to the Anaheim Ducks. Instead, the Ducks shocked Beckett Sennecke and the rest of the NHL and its fans by selecting him third overall.

According to Cory Pronman via The Athletic, “Several evaluators I’ve talked to during the season felt that if he were in North America like Artyom Levshunov, Silayev would have been in the No. 1 overall conversation.”

Silyev is every teams desired stay at home defensive defenseman who knows how to utilize his size. Last season in the KHL with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, Silayev scored three goals and 11 points. He won’t light it up on the scoresheet, but he’s going to assure the opposition doesn’t, either.

Silayev joins quite the core of young defenseman in Luke Hughes, Simon Nemec, and Seamus Casey.

The Russian defenseman has two years remaining on his KHL deal.

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