Vancouver Canucks reassign Artus Silovs to AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks

Following his fifth career start last night, the Vancouver Canucks have sent down goaltender Arturs Silovs to the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks.

Silovs was called up yesterday after Collin Delia came down with a non COVID-related illness late Sunday night. Delia and Spencer Martin struggled to hold down the fort in the absence of Thatcher Demko, but Silovs has had better luck, which has created plenty of hype around the young Silovs. The Canucks selected him at 156th overall of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.

Silovs was instrumental in the Canucks’ Monday overtime victory against the Nashville Predators. After making a number of key stops en route to turning aside 29 of the 32 shots he faced, Silovs turned aside all three Nashville attempts against him in the shootout. Elias Pettersson was the lone Canuck to score, and gave his team the victory.

Through five NHL games played, Silovs now boasts a record of 3-2-0 at the NHL level along with a .908 save percentage.

Prior to his call up to the Canucks, the 21-year-old Latvian netminder was the hottest goaltender in the AHL, posting a shutout and a .956 save percentage over his last five starts.

This is just Silovs’ first full season in the AHL, as last year, he spent time on loan in the ECHL as the Canucks tried to get him starts despite their logjam in goal with Michael DiPietro and Spencer Martin.

Silovs heads back to the AHL and could start for Abbotsford this evening, as the AHL nucks get set to take on the Manitoba Moose at home. He’s established himself as the number one starter down in Abbotsford, but it will be interesting to see how the Canucks manage Spencer Martin’s games down the stretch of the season as they look to rebuild his confidence and perhaps regain the confidence to be an NHL backup.