Arturs Silovs has now played 20 total games for the Vancouver Canucks and a worrying trend has become clear.
The 23-year-old has performed admirably in some very tough spots but of the 59 total goals he’s allowed, a significant portion share the same characteristic. They all come from distance.
Silovs is still very young, especially for a goalie, and he’s got a ton of potential. That being said, it’s undeniably clear he struggles to track pucks and NHL teams have taken notice.
In last year’s playoffs, Silovs had a .895% save percentage on long-distance shots, per NHL Edge data. That is well below the .965% league average for goalies in that same situation.
Nearly one-third of his total goals allowed last postseason were from medium or long distance and he ranked last in average goal distance, per NaturalStatTrick. The Edmonton Oilers scored twice in Game 7 alone from point shots.
Silovs had a great playoffs but one obvious weakness is tracking pucks from distance.
Below are nine goals where he was beat from far. He had just 29 total goals allowed.
He was last in average goal distance of any playoff G (min 2 GP). Smt to fix for next season.#Canucks pic.twitter.com/sBnLOm5YOd
— Noah Strang (@noahstrang_) May 27, 2024
This weakness reared its ugly head again last night in the Canucks’ season opener. The Flames mounted an impressive three-goal comeback and did so by scoring multiple times from far out.
This area of concern is not a secret to the young netminder. He brought it up unprompted when discussing his performance against the Flames.
“There [are] some things I have to maybe do better,” said the Latvian goalie today when speaking to the media after practice. “[Shots through] traffic would have to be a little bit better.”
The flaws in Silovs’ game wouldn’t be as concerning for the Canucks if they weren’t relying on him as their starting goaltender while Thatcher Demko remains out with an injury. The team brought in veteran Kevin Lankinen to help but they lack a true starting goalie at the moment.
The more that Silovs struggles, the more pressure it puts on Demko to get back on the ice. The American netminder suffered two knee injuries last year and it’s better for all involved that Silovs hold down the fort while Demko takes his time to get to 100%.
To do that, Silovs is either going to need to get better at tracking pucks or the Canucks are going to need to prevent those types of chances. Ideally, both.
“That’s something he’s continuing to work on,” said Tocchet last night when asked about Silovs stopping shots from distance. “We’ll work on that sort of stuff.”
The Canucks are back in action tomorrow night against the Philadelphia Flyers, and Tocchet has not revealed whether Lankinen or Silovs will be getting the start. No matter who is in net for that one, it won’t be long until Silovs gets the call again. When he does, he needs to prove he can make those saves or the Canucks will need to find someone who can.