No matter where he’s playing, Arturs Silovs has a knack for bringing his best when the stakes are raised in springtime.
In 2023, he earned MVP honors at the IIHF World Championship by backstopping his native Latvia to its first-ever medal in tournament history. One year later, he stepped in for Thatcher Demko and helped the Vancouver Canucks advance to the second round of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs.
This year, Silovs has been channeling peak Andrei Vasilevskiy while taking the AHL Abbotsford Canucks to their first-ever Western Conference final. In all three of the Canucks’ series wins so far, Silovs pitched a shutout in the deciding game of the series. He also shut out the Colorado Eagles to open the best-of-five Pacific Division championship, so he now boasts a 1.73 goals-against average and .936 save percentage to go along with his 8-3 playoff record so far.
It’s another extraordinary run, especially since Silovs didn’t play No. 1 AHL minutes this season. He spent a good amount of time in Vancouver while Thatcher Demko was sidelined but only got into 10 games and posted an underwhelming record of 2-6-1 with an .861 save percentage.
In Abbotsford, Silovs was 14-5-1 through 21 regular-season games, with a .908 save percentage. That was enough to earn him the nod over Nikita Tolopilo for Game 1 of the playoffs, and he hasn’t looked back.
While Silovs’ current star turn has been fantastic for Abbotsford, it creates a bit of a challenge for the parent club. At 24, he’ll no longer be waiver-exempt next season.
He may not have shown especially well at the NHL level last season, but with Silovs’ proven ability to heat up when the pressure rises and with a very reasonable cap hit of $850,000 for 2025-26, he may not sneak through waivers next fall.
Right now, the NHL Canucks are set in net with Demko and Kevin Lankinen — a solid pairing if Demko’s healthy. Lankinen signed a five-year contract extension in February and has a full no-move clause for his first two years. Demko has one year left on his current deal, which doesn’t carry trade protection.
At his season-ending media availability, Demko indicated he wants to stick around.
“I’ve always wanted to be a Canuck since Day 1. I want to be here,” he said. “I’d like to get an extension done to stay here.”
Demko is just one year removed from finishing as runner-up in Vezina Trophy voting. In April, he said he was “going into the summer healthy.”
If his injury woes are behind him, he could be a tempting trade chip as GM Patrik Allvin and hockey ops president Jim Rutherford embark on their stated mission of improving their forward group through the trade market, specifically targeting a second-line center. And that would make a full-time spot for Silovs in the fall.
Karlsson, Raty To Take Next Step
Two key Abbotsford forwards are also about to lose their waiver exemption.
Linus Karlsson will certainly draw interest, as he’s proving to be a clutch scorer. Through 12 playoff games, he’s tied for the AHL playoff lead with seven goals. Four of those came against Colorado, including the overtime-winner in Game 3 and a pair in the deciding Game 5.
Drafted by the San Jose Sharks in 2018 and acquired by the Canucks in a trade less than a year later, Karlsson still meets the criteria to qualify as an NHL rookie next season. He doesn’t turn 26 until November, two months after the rookie cut-off, and his four NHL games in 2023-24 and 23 games last year also keep him just under the bar.
Karlsson’s limited NHL experience means he’ll become a Group VI UFA unless he’s re-signed by the Canucks before July 1.
Then there’s Aatu Raty, the key prospect who came back to Vancouver when Bo Horvat was dealt to the New York Islanders in 2023. He turns 23 in November but lost his rookie status last season, when he played 33 NHL games.
Raty is hard-working, versatile and strong on the faceoff dot. He’s had a little trouble scoring at the NHL level but did manage seven goals last season, while averaging just 10:39 a game in mostly a bottom-six role. He may not have the offensive upside to be the top-six pivot that the Canucks are looking for, but he’s a handy guy to have around.
Raty had three assists in five playoff games with Abbotsford before he was sidelined with an injury on May 3. He’ll be an RFA without arbitration rights this summer.
Defensive Depth
On the blueline, Canucks management has more flexibility with its young defense group, which has gotten much deeper over the last couple of years.
At 21, Elias ‘Junior’ Pettersson had cemented himself so solidly at the NHL level by the trade deadline that he was not even papered down to be eligible for the AHL playoffs. With 28 games played last season, he’s no longer considered a rookie, but he will still be waiver-exempt for two more seasons.
Victor Mancini, who turned 23 this week, was made AHL playoffs-eligible after being acquired as part of January’s J.T. Miller trade. He has dressed for all 12 of Abbotsford’s games, collecting five points, and will remain waiver exempt for another 39 games next season.
Beyond them, Vancouver’s next wave of young defense prospects includes 21-year-old Kirill Kudryavtsev and 20-year-olds Tom Willander and Sawyer Mynio.
A seventh-round draft pick in 2022, Kudryavtsev has been acquitting himself well in his first AHL post-season and didn’t look out of place in his two-game NHL cup of coffee in April. Mynio has been practicing with Abbotsford since his WHL season ended, and Willander will be ready to go next year after finally inking his entry-level deal on May 14.
Abbotsford’s best-of-seven conference final against the Texas Stars will be played in a 2-3-2 format. Game 1 goes Thursday (10 p.m. ET) at Abbotsford Centre.
Get the
latest news and trending stories by following The Hockey News on Google News and by
subscribing to The Hockey News newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below
the article on THN.com.
Read the full article here
