Anaheim Ducks: Keeping Jakob Silfverberg is more good than bad

With the 2019 NHL trade deadline just a few days away, the Anaheim Ducks and right winger Jakob Silfverberg successfully came to terms on a five-year contract extension, keeping him in Anaheim for the long haul.

There was much debate of whether the Anaheim Ducks should have kept Jakob Silfverberg or traded him for assets (young prospects, draft picks) to start a rebuild in Anaheim. All along though, the Ducks seemed intent on keeping Silfverberg as voiced by General Manager Bob Murray’s comments a month ago. Murray wanted to take another “crack” at getting the forward signed.

According to Elliot Teaford of the Orange County Register, the Ducks were reportedly able to get Silfverberg to agree to a $5.25 million AAV (average annual value). Silfverberg would have been an unrestricted free agent after this season and free to sign with any team if he had not been signed.

Some may argue that the Ducks signing another veteran player at age 28 to a long, multi-term extension hurts the Ducks more than it helps. Rather, it does quite the opposite for the long-term outlook of the team. Let’s explore the bad first, then the good.

The Cons

For one, the Anaheim Ducks are even more financially strapped with the NHL salary cap currently at $79.5 million.

Silfverberg’s extension, which kicks in next season, coupled with other expensive contracts on the books like those of Ryan Getzlaf ($8.25 million), Corey Perry ($8.625 million), Ryan Kesler ($6.875 million), Adam Henrique ($5.825 million), and John Gibson ($6.4 million), will make it that much tougher to add an impact player from free agency or via trade in the short term.

The Ducks have literally no cap space to work with unless one of these players is moved or bought out.

Furthermore, the Ducks arguably retain a player with a limited offensive ceiling. Based on his four full seasons in Anaheim, starting with the 2014-15 season, Silfverberg has the following point totals: 39, 39, 49, 40. He is on pace for a little under 40 this season, with 24 points (16 goals and 8 assists) through 52 games played.

We probably won’t be seeing Silfverberg score 60 or 70 points on a regular basis the next five seasons.

The Pros

Even though Silfverberg won’t be the elite point producer fans hope he can be, the Ducks securing him for the long term does do the team plenty of good.

First, it gives the Ducks a great two-way forward who can provide some offense and excellent defense. He fits the identity of a Ducks team that often struggles to produce goals and relies on its goaltending and defense to squeak out victories.

Silfverberg is a proven goal scorer on a Ducks team that has does not have many potent goal scorers other than maybe an aging Corey Perry, forward Rickard Rakell, and an injured Ondrej Kase.

Silfverberg also plays in all situations – even strength (5 on 5), the power play (5 on 4), and on the penalty kill. Offensively at his best, he is a goal scorer who has a quick wrist shot and powerful slap shot. Defensively, he is one of the most responsible wingers in the game with a strong commitment to covering his man and defending the team’s top lines.

It’s significant that Silfverberg is most of all reliable and has been relatively healthy most of his career, missing no more than 5 games in a season since Anaheim acquired him 5 years ago.

Pushing the Youth Movement

The signing also hints that the Anaheim Ducks are hoping to retool this team and not go through a full-on rebuild. A rebuild would mean the Ducks would start from scratch with young players and go through the growing pains of young players developing in the NHL and learning how to win.

The Ducks are pushing to stay as competitive as possible and have its young players supplement its veterans, rather than the young players completely supplanting them. Hence, we probably won’t be seeing this team being blown up anytime soon.

Financially, another expensive contract could be a silver lining the Ducks. A lack of cap space would mean the Ducks need to get creative to stay on budget. One way the Ducks can do that is by finally allowing promising young players like Troy Terry, Max Jones, and Sam Steel to play regularly on the main roster.

Since they all are on entry-level contracts that are significantly cheaper, the Ducks giving them NHL experience would allow them to develop their games sooner rather than later. By staying up with the big club, the Ducks would be preparing their next generation of potential stars.

Currently, none of the young players in the system could have replaced what Silfverberg brought to the table. His departure would have left a gaping hole on the right wing.

The team is better with him now and there is no guarantee the picks, players, and assets the Ducks would have acquired would have helped the Ducks immediately. They could not lose him for nothing.

With Silfverberg locked in for the next five years, the Anaheim Ducks keep a key piece of their core that will benefit the team for years to come.