I believe that the Ducks’ offense was strong last season, and it was in many ways thanks to players like Ryan Kesler and Jakob Silfverberg.
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The Ducks locked up a young player Friday who’s shown he produces in big moments when they retained restricted free-agent forward Jakob Silfverberg with a four-year, $15-million contract through the 2018-19 season.
The Ducks acquired Silfverberg in the July 2013 trade that sent Bobby Ryan to the Ottawa Senators, bringing back Stefan Noesen and a 2014 1st round draft pick that was used on drafting winger Nick Ritchie, in addition to Silfverberg. While with the Ducks, Silfverberg has seen most of his time playing on the second line. The same thing happened previous year. In the shootout, he’s ranked first in career efficiency, going 14-for-23, or a 60.9 percent conversion rate. He had 33 goals and 48 assists, is plus-26 and has 48 penalty minutes in 181 career National Hockey League games with Anaheim and Ottawa.
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A Swede. Silfverberg won bronze at the 2010 World Junior Championship and silver at the 2011 World Championship. Although he’s blessed with one of the best wrist shots in the game, his offensive stats during the regular season weren’t much to write home about. He broke out in the postseason with four goals and 14 assists in just 16 games as Anaheim fell one victory short of the Stanley Cup final.
