By: Matthew Garcia

Jakob Silfverberg just wrapped up his fifth season in an Anaheim uniform, and while he saw a decline in his scoring this year the 27-year-old still managed to put up 40 points in 77 games by scoring 17 goals and recording 23 assists. The 40 points he recorded in the 2017-2018 campaign is just nine points shy of his career high(49) that he recorded in 2016-2017. You could contribute the lack of offensive production due to the fact that he was missing his usual center in Ryan Kesler for the entire first half of the regular season, but it is also hard to argue his numbers especially since he is used in a shutdown role of the opposing teams’ top line. Silfverberg would miss a total of five games this season due to an upper-body injury sustained in December. Silfverberg would participate in all of Anaheim’s postseason games against the San Jose Sharks and would record one goal, and one assist in the four-game sweep.

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Silfverberg is set to play on the final year of his contract and will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2019. Silfverberg was acquired in a trade back in July of 2013 which sent forward Bobby Ryan to the Ottawa Senators. One year after the trade was completed the Ducks signed Silfverberg to a four-year contract extension that would keep him in a Ducks uniform through the 2018-2019 season, and with how Silfverberg has been playing for the Ducks it’s very hard to argue that he won’t get another extension as he has been a very vital part to Anaheim’s shutdown trio. However, it will be very interesting this year as there are rumors that Kesler may be unavailable in the in 2018-2019 season, so it is a strong possibility that the Ducks could shuffle up the lines and try to use Silfverberg in a more offensive role and base a contract off of the numbers that he puts up in the final year of his contract.

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There are still many variables for the Ducks upcoming season like whether Ryan Kesler can play and when Patrick Eaves will be ready. If the Ducks are able to get a contract worked out with restricted free agent Ondrej Kase we could possibly see some changes to the lines and may end up seeing Silfverberg paired with Adam Henrique, and Kase which could be a real good scoring line. The Ducks could experiment even more and attempt to move Rickard Rakell to center with Silfverberg at the right wing and Kase at left wing. As of now, these are just mere speculations as nothing can be guaranteed right now until the Ducks get the final word on Kesler and if he will be able to play in this upcoming season.

Related:

Anaheim’s Core Problem 

Will Kesler Have To Retire?