Alex Wennberg told the San Jose Sharks over the summer that he wanted to stay.<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old pending UFA is now off the market, re-signed to a three-year, $18 million contract today.<\/p>\n
Wennberg was originally inked by the San Jose Sharks to a two-year deal in the summer of 2024.<\/p>\n
Wennberg spoke after practice today, his excitement from the just-signed contract still palpable.<\/p>\n
He shared why he\u2019s so excited to return to San Jose, his teammates\u2019 reaction, and more.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a great week for Wennberg, who was named to the Swedish Olympic team earlier this week.<\/p>\n
Alex Wennberg, on why the timing was right for the extension:<\/p>\n
I mean, I\u2019m super excited. We loved San Jose from the first second we got here. To be a part of this in the future as well and make it our second home from Sweden, we couldn\u2019t be happier with everything in this organization\u2014what we\u2019re doing here, what we\u2019re building, I\u2019m just super excited. It\u2019s hard to keep in the emotions because it\u2019s something that I\u2019ve always wanted, so I\u2019m just happy it happened. It\u2019s been a good week, and I couldn\u2019t end it any better.<\/p>\n
Wennberg, on what it means for the San Jose Sharks organization to invest in him coming out of the rebuild:<\/p>\n
There\u2019s trust from them that\u2019s showing that they want me around and like what I\u2019m doing. I feel so honored to get that deal as well, and for us as a team to move forward here. We\u2019re showing that we want to be a playoff team\u2014we want to push for it, we want to go and win the Stanley Cup. I feel like to also get the validation that I get to be a part of this, it feels amazing. I felt it from the second I got here too, from the coaches and everyone, they really had to believe in me as well. I\u2019m just going to keep pushing to be even better for them as well and make this even more.<\/p>\n
Wennberg, on how much he loves being in San Jose:<\/p>\n
That\u2019s exactly the thing. There are so many good things about it. When I came in with the family, we\u2019d never really been here before, but from the first second, we really loved it. I mean, for us, we also feel like we\u2019re going to be here giving back to the community and be an even bigger part of it. There\u2019s so many exciting things for us, and hopefully the team sees that as well, that we really want to give back\u2026It\u2019s just amazing to feel like our feeling towards the city and the team is also the same way felt towards me.<\/p>\n
Wennberg, on how where the team\u2019s place in the standings factored into his decision:<\/p>\n
Obviously, I really like where our team is right now and what we\u2019re building on the future we have. For me as well, I want to play for a team, but I feel like the values of the team, what we\u2019re striving for, and overall, I feel like I belong here as well. There\u2019s a different aspect that made a difference, but for us, it was a no-brainer. I always wanted to re-sign here, and the fact that we did it right now, there was no hesitation at all for me. I feel like everything about this is just a great fit for me, and I feel like it really helped the team as well, so it just worked out for the best.<\/p>\n
Wennberg, on when he started feeling San Jose was where he wanted to be:<\/p>\n
Even in the summer, I told them I would really like to be back here. I\u2019ve been honest with them from the get-go that this is a place I really love. I let my agent deal with all that stuff, it goes back and forth, but I just try to play hockey and focus on what I can do. Right now, it happened really quickly at the end here, but my feelings were always the same and I always wanted the same thing. Just the fact that it happens right now, especially with this week, there\u2019s been a lot of good things happening, so I\u2019m overwhelmed with that. Like I said, I just couldn\u2019t be happier that it happened.<\/p>\n
Wennberg, on how this stability might help him going forward:<\/p>\n
Everything about it\u2014I know where I\u2019m going to be for the next few years, and I know that I\u2019m going to be competing with the guys around me as well. Like I said from the start here too, we\u2019re building to become a tough team to play against and get into the playoffs, and I feel like we have all the pieces. Everything about this, like you said. I\u2019m going to be playing with a lot of positives behind me, and I feel like it\u2019s just going to help me push to be even better.<\/p>\n
Wennberg, on the focuses for the team going into the second half of the season:<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a good first half, but we have to keep pushing. Every team you play against is a really good opponent, so there\u2019s no point in taking a step back. We\u2019re going to move forward and we\u2019re going to learn how to be more consistent and show up every single night and play the same hockey, and especially stick to our identity. If we skate, if we play hard, if we forecheck, we\u2019re tough to beat. I feel like right now, we talk about it a lot, but it\u2019s time to bring that to action as well. I feel like this group is growing, we\u2019re getting more mature, so it\u2019s going to come more and more, but it\u2019s a great opportunity for us to be in this race and really show what we\u2019re meant to do and what the team wants.<\/p>\n
Wennberg, on how the extension came together:<\/p>\n
I think we started the negotiation [a little while ago], but how it works is we go back and forth. Obviously, you have to wait for the right timing and then it\u2019s tough to say exactly when I knew it was going to happen. It all finished today. Until the last second, you\u2019re still waiting to see what\u2019s going to happen. Right now, when I went to sign the piece of paper, I just felt all the emotions and all the excitement, which is all still kind of new. I\u2019m still kind of enveloped in this whole thing, but as you can probably tell, I couldn\u2019t be more excited.<\/p>\n
Wennberg, on how the family feels:<\/p>\n
Same thing. Like I said, it\u2019s not only me, it\u2019s my kids and my wife. We have so many good memories already, so to even have more years here to build a future and have my kids grow up here, it\u2019s just the perfect place. Right now, like I said, it\u2019s all new, but we were good at keeping our excitement last night. It\u2019s amazing, and I\u2019m kind of speechless, to be honest.<\/p>\n
Wennberg, on when exactly he found out:<\/p>\n
Everyone was talking last night, and then we finished it all off and got the deal done today. It\u2019s that recent. That\u2019s why it\u2019s all still kind of new. Obviously, they talk to the agent and Mike is talking way more than I do, so I don\u2019t hear every conversation, but the way they handle it, they\u2019re such pros. For me to just get it done, I\u2019m just super happy with it.<\/p>\n
Wennberg, on why three years was the right length:<\/p>\n
I feel like three years is a good time. Right now, where the team\u2019s at, what we\u2019re building, and there\u2019s a lot of young players. I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s going to be three years and then we\u2019re done, maybe there could be an extension, but this is a perfect time to have a future here, and then we\u2019ll see how it goes. I feel like both parties are happy with it, and we\u2019ll see after that. Every player is different, every team wants different things. I feel like both parties are really happy and we both saw it as a win-win and felt like it was a good fit for us. Like I said, I\u2019m more than happy to be a Shark for the rest of my career, and we\u2019ll see how it goes. We\u2019re taking these three years, and then we\u2019ll have a new conversation, hopefully.<\/p>\n
Wennberg, on his teammates\u2019 reactions:<\/p>\n
I kind of just told them right now, because it\u2019s all new\u2026Just even that, they\u2019re all so happy as well. I really feel like, with this group, even if it\u2019s a great success for me, they seem like they\u2019re really happy for me as well, and I would be for them as well. That\u2019s why it\u2019s such a special group. Everyone is just so happy for one another, we fight for one another. To have this news, to feel like I\u2019m going to be with them for another three years\u2014teammates, coaches, all of them\u2014it just feels amazing.<\/p>\n
Special thanks to Maddie Dutra for her help transcribing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex Wennberg told the San Jose Sharks over the summer that he wanted to stay. The 31-year-old pending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[61221,4216,7501,93,4401,63440,1036,88,90,89,98,4254,12785,62644],"class_list":["post-120300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-2026-olympics","tag-alex-wennberg","tag-extension","tag-featured","tag-mike-grier","tag-pat-brisson","tag-ryan-warsofsky","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sjhn","tag-sweden","tag-ufa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}