Jakob Silfverberg has announced his retirement from the NHL, according to the website of his current team, the Anaheim Ducks, effective the end of the current season. His last home game for the Ducks will be Friday night against the Calgary Flames.
“It’s been an honor and privilege to play in the National Hockey League,” Silfverberg said in the article. “I want to thank the (Ducks owner Henry) Samueli family for being who they are, gracious, community-minded owners that support their team while making a significant impact in our community. Obviously I wouldn’t be where I am without my teammates, all the trainers and staff that have helped me along the way. Most importantly, thank you to my family who have supported me as I lived out a dream.”
However, at just 33 years of age and with no apparent physical ailments – Silfverberg has only missed one Ducks’ game this season – it’s fair to assume he will continue his career back in Europe.
A native of Gävle, Sweden – a city of around 78,000 about 175 km north of Stockholm – Silfverberg grew up in the Brynäs IF club, playing there until age 22 before joining the Ottawa Senators during the 2012 playoffs. That would make Brynäs a logical landing point for Silfverberg next season and, according to Leon Nilsson of Swedish website HockeyNews.se (no relation to this site), that is what is being reported by newspaper Expressen. The Expressen article is behind a paywall, so we’ll have to take Nilsson at his word.
While Brynäs was in the top Swedish league at the time of Silfverberg’s departure – in fact, they won the championship in his last year there with Silfverberg named league MVP in both the regular season and playoffs – the club has fallen on hard times recently. Brynäs was relegated from the Swedish Hockey League after the 2022-23 season. This past season, Brynäs finished first in Sweden’s second-tier league – HockeyAllsvenskan – and is currently fighting to gain promotion back to the SHL.
On Tuesday, Brynäs defeated BIK Karlskoga 4-3 in overtime to win their semifinal series four games to one. In the HockeyAllsvenskan finals they’ll face the winner of the other semifinal, which Djurgården currently leads 3-2 over Mora IK. The league champion is then promoted.
Therefore, Silfverberg might know which team he intends to play for next season, but not in which league.
In 13 NHL seasons with Ottawa and Anaheim, Silfverberg has recorded 373 points in 817 regular-season games, with apparently three more games to go. He’s added 45 more points in 69 NHL playoff games.
Internationally, Silfverberg has represented Sweden at three IIHF World Championships, the 2014 Winter Olympics, the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, and once each at the World Junior Championship and U18 World Championship. He has won a World Championship silver, an Olympic silver and a World Junior bronze.