Anaheim Ducks bolster depth by re-signing center Adam Henrique

The Anaheim Ducks bolstered their depth for the next five seasons by extending Adam Henrique on Monday.

It turns out that 28-year-old center Adam Henrique will not in fact be returning to the Garden State come 2019, the year he would have been set to hit the open market as a free agent.

Instead, after signing a contract worth $29 million, he’ll be spending his next five years laying in sunshine on the west coast.

That is, he’s now an Anaheim Duck through at least 2024.

The extension comes after the Ducks traded defenseman Sami Vatanen for Henrique back in November of ’17. At the time, he had posted four goals and 14 points with the New Jersey Devils before scoring 20 goals with Anaheim. The Ducks also received Joseph Blandisi and a third-round pick in the deal.

For Henrique, it’s apparently a dream come true, despite the fact that he grew up in Canada. Maybe he watched too many Emilio Estevez films as a youngster.

On the Ducks’ side, this is probably a move meant to boost the offense through the waning stages of the Ryan Getzlaf/Corey Perry/Ryan Kesler era. Though Anaheim still has young talent in Rickard Rakell, Cam Fowler and others, Getzlaf, Perry and Kesler are all 33.

They certainly have good years left in them (how many?), but two of those guys are set to leave the books by 2021. Those three aren’t going to be around forever, much less be around to carry this club forever.

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While Henrique isn’t likely to carry the Ducks in three seasons, he is a solid keep for a team looking to avenge a first-round playoff sweep and once again become contenders, and a team that should be looking to build up its core of younger forwards. In his eight years in New Jersey, Henrique routinely averaged 20 goals and 45 to 50 points, with a career-high 30 goals in 2016.