Canucks alert: Arturs Silovs officially off Latvian roster Fitnessnacks

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Arturs Silovs was expected to play a key role for Latvia this weekend in an Olympic qualifying tournament.

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Published Aug 29, 2024  •  Last updated 10 hours ago  •  4 minute read

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Vancouver Canucks’ goalie Arturs Silovs during third period NHL playoff action against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place, in Edmonton on May 18, 2024. Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia

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If you started to get worried Wednesday afternoon when you heard that Arturs Silovs may not end up playing for Latvia in this weekend’s Olympic hockey qualifying tournament in Riga, maybe you thought to take deep breaths.

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Latvia, after all, didn’t have to declare its final roster until two hours before their first game in this weekend’s tournament. That’s 10 a.m. Pacific Time vs. Slovenia.

When Latvia first registered their roster Wednesday, they named only two goalies. There was still time for Silovs, who is slated to be the Vancouver Canucks’ backup this season and who played a starring role for Latvia at the world championship in 2023, to be added as the third goalie.

But then 8 a.m. Thursday came and went and rather than Silovs being added to the roster, the Latvians opted instead for Eriks Vitols, who plays for JYP in Finland.

No Silovs. Instead Latvia is going with Vitols, former NHLer Kristers Gudlevskis and former Nashville farmhand Gustavs Grigals, who currently has no team at all.

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If you are the Latvian coaching staff, this is not your ideal plan.

And it’s all because Silovs is dealing with some sort of knee issue. At first, the Latvian coaching staff indicated Silovs’ absence was down to load management.

It’s the very beginning of the season, these are big games, so you can perhaps understand why you’d be cautious about workload at this stage of the season … but to not pick Silovs at all was eyebrow raising.

Latvia played a pair of warm-up games this week, but Silovs didn’t feature in either. He didn’t even dress — instead he was just a spectator, noted Latvia online sports news site Sportcentrs.

Harijs Vitolins told reporters after Monday’s game that Silovs “is ready to start the tournament.”

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The coach said he hadn’t picked the young Canuck for Latvia’s warm up games because he’d been working so hard this summer to prepare for the season and didn’t want to push him harder than necessary.

But then he added a curious caveat: they didn’t want to push Silovs into chronic injury territory.

Wait, what?

“We decided to protect him a little, let’s see,” Vitolins said (at least as delivered via Google translate.)

And then, Thursday, came the reveal: Silovs is dealing with knee inflammation, according to a statement released on X by the Latvian hockey federation.

Paziņojums!
Sākotnēji turnīram bija plānots pieteikt vārtsargu Artūru Šilovu, kuram, diemžēl, neizdevās pietiekami ātri atlabt no ceļgala saites iekaisuma, kas liedz piedalīties turnīra spēlēs ar maksimālu atdevi.

— LV Hokeja federācija (@lhf_lv) August 29, 2024

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“Initially, it was planned to register goalkeeper Arturs Silovs for the tournament, who, unfortunately, did not manage to recover quickly enough from knee ligament inflammation, which prevents him from participating in the tournament games with maximum performance,” they said.

In a further tweet, the federation indicated there was some concern whether Silovs would be ready for the start of the season.

CHEK-TV’s Rick Dhaliwal got in touch with Latvia general manager Rudolfs Kalvitis, who told Dhaliwal the injury is not serious, despite the concern evident in the federation’s statement.

Kalvitis told Dhaliwal the inflammation was minimal, but the national team decided that it wasn’t in Silovs’ best interest to play this weekend and so they didn’t push him. According to Kalvitis, Silovs should be ready for Canucks training camp, which opens in Penticton on Sept. 19.

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Just talked with Latvian GM Rūdolfs Kalvītis on the status of #Canucks goalie Arturs SIlovs.

Kalvītis : It was determined he is not 100% healthy due to a little bit inflammation in his knee.

We were concerned & don’t want to push him, he should be fine for the #Canucks camp.

— Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) August 29, 2024

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“This kid is a workhorse, the inflammation was from over use, over training, working hard all summer. He needs rest, we are also thinking of the Canucks, it is his first year of a new deal,” Kalvitis told Dhaliwal.

Still, Thursday’s news far from ideal news for anyone, not for Silovs, who is expected to serve as Thatcher Demko’s backup this season, nor for the Canucks, who already have anxiety about Demko’s health. The Canucks have yet to comment, but it’s expected that the Canucks’ No. 1 will not be ready for training camp next month. And there are questions whether he’ll be able to play in any pre-season games — which would also raise questions about whether he’d be ready to start the season.

Because of concerns about Demko’s recovery from a knee problem — he was injured in the first game of the playoffs last spring, then may have had a followup procedure but no one has been able to confirm this — the Canucks have made inquiries with a few free agent goalies in recent weeks about coming to training camp on a professional tryout.

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One name that has surfaced is former Nashville backup goalie Kevin Lankinen, but the veteran Finn can easily bide his time at this point, since the pressure on teams to sign an experienced goalie like him is only going to mount.

Asked Thursday about the Latvian federation’s statement on Silovs’s knee, the Canucks declined to comment.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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Fitnessnacks – #Canucks #alert #Arturs #Silovs #officially #Latvian #roster
Courtesy : https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/nhl/vancouver-canucks/arturs-silovs-knee-injury