To most Ducks fans, it should not be a surprise to see Jakob Silfverberg on a top five list, but it could be a surprise to see him at the second spot. The truth is, however, that Silfverberg was selected to be an NHL All-Star for a reason. To start the season, Silfverberg was on fire and enjoying the best start to any of his years in the NHL, and although it slowed a bit during the second half, there has never been an absence of effort from this Swede.
To end off the season, Silfverberg finished with twenty-one goals, eighteen assists, and thirty-nine total points. Unfortunately, Silfverberg only got the chance to play in sixty-six games this season due to the pause that the NHL underwent, but he was almost on pace to tie his career best forty-nine points with a slight tear at the end of the season. He was seven games behind last season with eleven games total remaining, so who knows what he could have done with those remaining minutes on the ice, but the one thing that is for certain is that this was about as good of a year for Silfverberg as there ever will be.
From a scoring standpoint, Silfverberg was just about the second or third most reliable scoring option coming behind the number one player on this list and an another honorable mention player, and he was just three goals short of tying his career best twenty-four goals from last season. He was also averaging 17:41 on the ice, so there was usually a good shot of his line putting one up on the board. Assists wise, it was one of his least impressive seasons with only eighteen assists, but his goal production was plenty enough to excuse it. He also did not get to play his usual seventy games, so he was still on pace to tie his worst career assist numbers at the very least. He was only one assist shy of tying last season, in fact.
Throwing in his defense, Silfverberg was the complete package. Forty-one blocks, twenty-eight hits, forty takeaways, and a general awareness of where he needed to be on the ice at all times. In total, out of the 226 goals that were scored against the Ducks in the seventy-one games they played, Silfverberg was on the ice for only sixty-three of them. He is not a defenseman, but he does know how to lay the body on. In general, Silfverberg might be one of the most complete Ducks to have ever put the blade to the ice, and he has really started to show that over these last two seasons. Who knows what the future holds for him this upcoming season? Though for now, we still have our last player to get to. Before that, two honorable mentions that fell just short of first place.