- Devils signed Anton Silayev to a three-year, entry-level contract on Sunday
- The 6-foot-7 defenseman was the 10th overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft
- Read below for full details, video of the KHL phenom, and what comes next
The Devils’ biggest prospect finally got his entry-level deal done.
New Jersey signed 6-foot-7 defenseman Anton Silayev to a three-year, entry-level contract on Sunday. The 10th overall pick from the 2024 NHL Draft was the last of that draft’s top 15 to put pen to paper, and it’s the first player signing for new general manager Sunny Mehta since he took the job.
Silayev spent the past three seasons with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod in the KHL, cracking the lineup as a 17-year-old in 2023-24. He led all U-18 skaters in the league that year with 11 points across 63 games. Pretty solid for a kid that age.
The production cooled in 2025-26. He finished with three points in 61 regular season games, then chipped in a pair of assists across 10 playoff games before Torpedo bowed out of the Gagarin Cup.
Scoring was never the calling card anyway. Size, reach, and skating are what made him a top-10 pick. Scouts have called him a “ballerina on the ice” for how smoothly he moves on his edges. Take a look at his draft-year highlight reel:
The 20-year-old also earned a KHL All-Star nod this past season and showed clear defensive growth, even with the offense ticking down.
Silayev got his first taste of the Devils organization at development camp in the summer of 2024, right after New Jersey grabbed him in Vegas. He’ll be back at training camp in September with a real shot to push for an opening-night roster spot.
The more likely path runs through Utica, where his frame and puck movement should stand out from day one in the AHL.
A Devils blue line already running Luke Hughes, Dougie Hamilton, Brett Pesce, Jonas Siegenthaler, Brenden Dillon, and Simon Nemec just got bigger and deeper. Mehta got his guy.
