Arturs Silovs reaches a crucial point in his professional career

When Artūrs Šilovs replaced Kevin Lankinen during the third period of Saturday's embarrassing 7-3 loss to the Oilers, he did well in saving all four of the shots he faced. Now though, he finds himself no longer on the Canucks roster

As announced by Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin on Sunday morning and then confirmed by the team on social media, Šilovs has been assigned to the AHL with Abbotsford. In a corresponding move, Ty Young has been recalled, and will now be Lankinen's backup.

In some respects this is a surprising move, but it's also entirely understandable, giving how poorly Šilovs has played so far in 2024-25. Expected to build on an impressive display during last season's playoffs he has instead regressed, with a 5.00 Goals Against Average and .797 save percentage in his three starts, all of which the team lost.

Making these displays even more shocking, was that the 23-year-old was coming off a training camp and preseason where he had looked excellent. The poor regular season displays were clearly not expected, with the Canucks confident enough to let Casey DeSmith leave, thinking they had someone who would be an excellent long-term number two for Thatcher Demko.

Critical point in Silovs' career

Now this may well still be the case in time, but at this point, Šilovs has reached an interesting point in his Canucks career. He clearly has plenty to work on to improve his stock, including getting better at dealing with long-range shots.

Along these lines, there is a good chance that the netminder's assignment to Abbotsford is just a short-term arrangement, in order to get a start on Sunday afternoon at home to the Bakersfield Condors. Abbotsford had a game on Saturday night, and Sunday's contest gives Šilovs the change to get some extended action after only starting one of the Canucks' last 10 games.

Certainly it's a good idea to give the Latvia native some extended action, after losing the confidence of Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet and spending so much time on the bench. This is a crucial time for him.

Backing up Demko when he returns

Demko is (finally) expected back sooner than later, bringing up the question of who will serve as his main backup? As things stand it has to be Lankinen, given how he has performed.

Throw in the fact that Šilovs is still waiver exempt, and it's almost too easy for Tocchet to make the decision. However, this is where the young goaltender has to now take any opportunity he gets, to show what he is truly capable of.

As Canucks fans are now painfully aware, there's just no guarantees that Demko is capable of staying healthy for a considerable period of time. However, even if he does -- and we hope so for everyone's sake -- there are also no guarantees Lankinen will continue to perform as well as he has done up to this point.

As such, it's up to Šilovs to step up, accept the adversity he's currently facing, and play like he did in last season's playoffs - maybe even better. If not, then this assignment to Abbotsford could become a repeat and/or long-term situation.

In other roster news, Allvin also assigned Arshdeep Bains and Nils Åman to Abbotsford. Jonathan Lekkerimäki was recalled and is now set to make his NHL debut on Tuesday night, at home to the Calgary Flames.

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