Ducks alternate captain announces plans to retire

Anaheim Ducks winger Jakob Silfverberg has announced his plans to retire from the NHL at the end of the season. Friday will mark his last time suiting up at the Honda Center as the Ducks host the Calgary Flames in their last home game of the season.

This news comes as a surprise from the 33-year-old Silfverberg. While injuries limited him as the 2020s rolled around — he’s otherwise had a generally healthy career, playing in 70 or more games in seven different seasons, including each of the last two. His scoring has taken a major hit, though, with Silfverberg netting just 19 points in 78 games this season — less than half of his totals from just four seasons ago.

Still, Silfverberg has had a fruitful career, totaling 817 games over the last 12 seasons. All but one of those seasons came with Anaheim, who acquired the Swedish winger in the 2013 trade that sent Bobby Ryan to the Ottawa Senators. Silfverberg would go on to play in the fifth-most games in Ducks history — playing 769 with the Ducks — and score the seventh-most points with 354. He also added the fourth-most playoff points, scoring 41 in 57 postseason performances. While he hasn’t dominated the scoresheet like former teammates Ryan Getzlaf or Corey Perry, Silfverberg provided invaluable consistency for a long time in Anaheim, always carrying a controllable cap hit.

While Silfverberg’s NHL career is coming to a close, there is no indication of whether he’ll return to Sweden’s SHL. Silfverberg played in 166 games with Brynäs IF before moving to the NHL after growing up through the organization’s youth program. He served as team captain in the 2011-12 season — his last year in Sweden — while wearing No. 100.