{"id":780170,"date":"2026-07-04T17:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T17:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/780170\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T17:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T17:07:08","slug":"william-eklund-eager-for-fresh-start-with-senators-the-goal-is-to-make-a-deep-playoff-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/780170\/","title":{"rendered":"William Eklund eager for fresh start with Senators: \u2018The goal is to make a deep playoff run\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story\u00a0originally appeared on hockeysverige.se<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>and has been translated from Swedish to English.<\/p>\n

After four seasons with the San Jose Sharks<\/a>, William Eklund is getting the fresh start many around the league expected. <\/p>\n

The 23-year-old Swedish forward was traded to the Ottawa Senators<\/a> earlier this summer. And while the move initially caught him off guard, his excitement quickly took over.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was actually at a Pitbull concert when I saw (Sharks GM Mike Grier) calling,\u201d Eklund said with a laugh. \u201cI didn\u2019t know exactly what it was about, but I had a feeling something might be happening. At first, you\u2019re just shocked. I think every player who gets traded feels that way. But once I heard it was Ottawa, I got excited immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking with\u00a0Hockeysverige.se<\/a>\u00a0during an offseason training session at Ice Academy outside Stockholm, Eklund admitted he wasn\u2019t expecting the call when Grier reached him.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest reasons? He\u2019ll once again share the ice with close friend Fabian Zetterlund, who was also acquired by the Senators earlier this offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI called him pretty much right away, and he was excited too. It\u2019s going to be a lot of fun, both on and off the ice. We\u2019re really close friends. Honestly, I never thought we\u2019d end up playing together again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two developed strong chemistry during their time together in San Jose, something Eklund hopes they\u2019ll rediscover in Ottawa.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe played together quite a bit, and I thought it worked really well. Hopefully we\u2019ll get the chance to build on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eklund will also have the opportunity to work with assistant coach Daniel Alfredsson, one of the greatest players in Senators history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat makes it even more exciting,\u201d Eklund said. \u201cHe\u2019s a Swedish legend and a hockey icon in Ottawa. I know I can learn a lot from him, and that\u2019s something I\u2019m really looking forward to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the two haven\u2019t spoken since the trade, Eklund expects that conversation to happen before training camp.<\/p>\n

While the Sharks endured several rebuilding seasons during Eklund\u2019s tenure, the former seventh-overall pick says the organization played a huge role in both his hockey development and his personal growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great chapter for me. That\u2019s where I entered the NHL and got my opportunity. We had some difficult years as a team, but I developed a lot as both a player and a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eklund says learning how to handle the demands of an 82-game NHL schedule was one of the biggest lessons.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou learn what it means to be a professional every single day. How to prepare, how to eat, how to recover. And mentally, you learn how to respond when things aren\u2019t going your way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among his favorite memories with the Sharks are his NHL debut, his first career hat trick, and a memorable goal in Boston last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of great memories. My first games, my first hat trick, the goal in Boston\u2026 I\u2019ll always look back on my time in San Jose with a smile.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move also brings a significant shift in expectations. Unlike the rebuilding Sharks, Ottawa is firmly focused on competing.<\/p>\n

For Eklund, there\u2019s no ambiguity about the objective.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe expectation is to make a deep playoff run. That\u2019s the biggest difference. In Ottawa, the standard is to be in the playoffs every year, and getting there isn\u2019t enough. We want to go much further.\u201d<\/p>\n

And when asked whether it\u2019s finally time for a Canadian team to end the country\u2019s long Stanley Cup drought, Eklund didn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely,\u201d he said with a smile. \u201cHopefully it\u2019s Ottawa.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story\u00a0originally appeared on hockeysverige.se\u00a0and has been translated from Swedish to English. After four seasons with the San…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-780170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}