The Vancouver Canucks have agreed to terms with promising young goaltender Artūrs Šilovs on a two-year agreement, the club announced Tuesday. The deal reportedly carries an annual average value of $850,000, the Daily Faceoff reported.
The Athletic has reported for weeks the Canucks were intent on signing Šilovs to a two-year agreement, in line with the organization’s philosophy on second contracts for promising contributors that have yet to establish themselves as everyday NHL-level players.
Over the past few years, defenseman Jack Rathbone and wingers Nils Höglander and Vasili Podkolzin were all given similar two-year show-me deals.
Šilovs had an uneven 2023-24 campaign this past season at the American League level, but remains the crown jewel of the club’s goalie development pipeline and proved to be more than up to the task whenever he was pressed into duty at the NHL level.
General Manager Patrik Allvin announces that the #Canucks have agreed to terms with goaltender Artūrs Šilovs on a 2-year contract.
DETAILS | https://t.co/lTJtetk5jJ pic.twitter.com/w0xtW066qv
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) July 16, 2024
Stepping into the starter’s role for the Canucks during the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs in relief of both Thatcher Demko and Casey DeSmith, Šilovs occasionally flashed star-level impact. His incredible playoff run was punctuated by an epic Game 6 shutout performance as Šilovs out-dueled perennial Vezina Trophy candidate Juuse Saros and led the Canucks to a victory that closed out the Nashville Predators in their first-round series.
“Artūrs helped us out a lot when called upon last year as he continues to grow and develop as a goalie,” said general manager Patrik Allvin of the signing. “We expect him to come into training camp and battle for a full-time position with the big club. Our group will continue to work with him to help sharpen his skills and provide him with all the tools necessary to take another step forward in his young career.”
While Šilovs is an explosive athlete with quality fundamentals and a certain air of unflappability in the crease, his lack of NHL-level experience was in evidence at times during Vancouver’s most recent playoff run. Against the Edmonton Oilers in the second round, for example, Šilovs proved near impossible to beat down low, evidenced by his talent level and raw tools, but struggled as the Oilers adjusted and began to attack him with point shots sent through layered traffic.
More repetitions at the NHL level would seem to be necessary for Šilovs to take that next step in his development, although given that the 23-year-old Latvian netminder seems to have legitimate starter upside, the club will also need to be mindful about maximizing his overall workload.
If Šilovs is a candidate to be the Canucks’ goaltender of the future, and he certainly looked the part this past spring, it’s probably not ideal for him to start fewer than 40 games next season between the NHL and AHL levels.
Šilovs wants to be a full-time NHL goaltender and has shown enough that we can safely assume that he’s got the inside track over intriguing free-agent acquisition Jiří Patera for the backup job in Vancouver this upcoming season.
Šilovs’ waiver-exempt status, however, is something to monitor. It’s relatively rare for a goaltender that an NHL organization trusts to start games — including meaningful games — to be waiver exempt, and that’s a potential weapon that Canucks management could wield to enhance their overall goaltending depth. It’s also a potential leg up for Patera in a training camp battle with Šilovs for the Canucks backup job, should that materialize this September in Penticton, B.C.
(Photo: Derek Cain / Getty Images)
