Silfverberg offers a bit of Alfie’s magic
KELOWNA, B.C. When Randy Carlyle was between NHL jobs before landing his current position as the Anaheim Ducks’ head coach, he hung around the team’s Honda Center arena and acted more like a scout than an unemployed bench boss.
He absolutely loved Ducks winger Jakob Silfverberg.
“I was sitting in the press box and watching Silfverberg, and he reminded me of Daniel Alfredsson,” said Carlyle, who game-planned against the former Ottawa Senators captain while coaching the Toronto Maple Leafs. “He had the same kind of demeanour. He was very good on the defensive side and he found ways to provide offence.”
Alfredsson is now high up the management food chain with the Senators and Silfverberg has six playoff goals this spring for the Ducks, only one behind Pittsburgh Penguins rookie sensation Jake Guentzel heading into Monday’s action.
Silfverberg, who skates on a line with Ryan Kesler and Andrew Cogliano, has scored in each of his team’s three games against the Edmonton Oilers, totalling four in all. He scored twice and added an assist in Sunday’s 6-3 win in Edmonton.
Silfverberg has eight points in the 2017 playoffs, and has 31 in his last 30 playoff games.
Silfverberg, who is a right-shooting Swede who plays right wing like Alfredsson, was gobsmacked after hearing the comparison.
“Huge compliment. I got a chance to play one season with Alfie in Ottawa,” said Silfverberg, who was traded to Anaheim from Ottawa in the 2013 Bobby Ryan deal.
“Obviously, I’m not there yet, but being drafted by the Senators, I looked up to him. Super humble guy. I played with him in the Olympics (at Sochi in 2014), and at the World Cup last September. He was one of the mentors we had for Sweden.”
Ryan is good, but even if he has seven points this post-season for Ottawa, he’s always left people wanting more given his skill set and size.
Not so for Silfverberg, the 39th player taken in the 2009 draft, who grew up in a hockey family. His father, Jan-Erik Silfverberg, was a decorated defenceman at night and a construction worker by day.
The junior Silfverberg has been a defensive presence for years on the wing, but he’s gone from scoring 13 goals to 20 to 23 the last three seasons.
“He’s an unsung hockey player and we’re very, very fortunate to have him. He can do a lot of things,” Carlyle said.
Silfverberg can check, defend and score. He’s on the first power play unit. He’s also a bargain at US$3.75 million per year for three more years.
He’s definitely high up on the Ducks’ list of seven protected forwards for the Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft, and today only Getzlaf and Kesler are better.
His Swedish teammate Rickard Rakell, who scored the first goal 25 seconds into Game 3 on Sunday, is more of a one-shot scorer with 33 goals this season, but Rakell doesn’t have Silfverberg’s polish away from the puck. “It’s a fine line, but I’ve always said the best defence can be the best offence,” Silfverberg said.
“Our line has done a better job of that, of not just sitting back this year and playing safe, of being in the attack mode. And a guy like (Connor McDavid), if you can force him to play defence, that’s good.”