Silayev turned eighteen in April and spent last season in Russia's KHL, regarded as the second-best league in the world, playing in sixty-three games, scoring three goals with eight assists for Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod.
Nice numbers for a seventeen-year-old defenseman (he turned eighteen after the season) and the comparison used most for Silayev has been Zdeno Chara and Victor Hedman.
Chara only played seventy seasons in the NHL, and Hedman is one of the better defensemen in the league.
Those comparisons make sense with Silayev's frame (6'7 207 pounds) giving him plenty of room to fill out as he matures and he is reported to be an excellent skater for his size and isn't afraid to be rough in the trenches.
Silayev slipped a little in the draft, (looking back through mock drafts Silayev appeared as high as three and rarely below seven) and the Devils may have been fortunate that he did.
Perhaps some teams didn't want to wait for Silayev to arrive as he is under contract with Torpedo for two more seasons before he comes to New Jersey, and that could have been a factor in his slight drop in round one.
New Jersey has two excellent young defenders with different styles than Silayev in Luke Hughes (an offensive puck-mover) and Simon Nemec ( a well-rounded two-way defenseman), so drafting a big physical defender that should complement Hughes and Nemec's game looks to be an excellent addition to the New Jersey system in the coming years.
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