{"id":372830,"date":"2026-06-24T10:12:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T10:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/372830\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T10:12:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T10:12:09","slug":"bigger-trade-now-an-option-after-sharks-deal-william-eklund-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/372830\/","title":{"rendered":"Bigger trade now an option after Sharks deal William Eklund \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area & California"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s next for the Sharks after trading William Eklund<\/a> to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday?<\/p>\n

The Sharks dealt Eklund<\/a>, along with prospects Kasper Halttunen and Brandon Svoboda, to the Senators for the No. 9 overall pick of the 2026 NHL Draft.<\/p>\n

So why did the Sharks move on from the popular winger?<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t feel like general manager Mike Grier is done. On the surface, it doesn\u2019t make sense for a team that\u2019s trying to get back into the playoff picture to trade an established and improving 23-year-old winger in Eklund for just a draft pick, however high, especially when there are clear holes on the Sharks\u2019 blueline.<\/p>\n

At the moment, the Sharks have just two blueliners signed, veteran Dmitry Orlov and sophomore Sam Dickinson, and a couple RFAs in Michael Kesselring and Shakir Mukhamadullin.<\/p>\n

So using that No. 9 pick for some defensive help right now makes sense.<\/p>\n

It is San Jose Hockey Now\u2019s understanding that the Sharks had \u201clots of interest\u201d in top-pairing defenseman Bowen Byram, who was dealt after the Eklund trade.<\/p>\n

The Buffalo Sabres sent Byram<\/a>, 25, and cap-dump bottom-six winger Jordan Greenway to the Chicago Blackhawks for the No. 4 and 45 picks, and 24-year-old defenseman Louis Crevier.<\/p>\n

At this time, SJHN can\u2019t confirm if the Sharks had offered the No. 9 overall pick for Byram. But obviously, the No. 4 overall trumps that. And while San Jose also possesses the No. 2 overall, that\u2019s probably too rich an asset to surrender for Byram, not considered a true-blue No. 1 defenseman, especially with winger Ivar Stenberg likely on the board right there, if the Toronto Maple Leafs make Gavin McKenna the No. 1 overall pick, as expected.<\/p>\n

Back to Eklund: The No. 7 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft had developed into a consistent 15-goal and 50-point winger, and at just 23, he certainly had lots of room to grow.<\/p>\n

But the 5-foot-10 winger didn\u2019t take the leap in his development expected of him this past season, which perhaps made him just a little more expendable than the rest of the Sharks\u2019 deep cadre of talented forwards.<\/p>\n

The presence of a talent like winger Stenberg at the No. 2 pick probably also made Eklund a little more expendable. Stenberg is coming off one of the most productive campaigns in SHL and World Championships history for a first-time draft-eligible, and is expected to be NHL-ready immediately.<\/p>\n

So Grier packaged Eklund and a couple of solid but unremarkable prospects in Halttunen and Svoboda to acquire a very valuable and liquid asset in the No. 9 pick.<\/p>\n

A smaller winger like Eklund, however skilled, isn\u2019t every team\u2019s cup of tea, but everybody likes a top-10 draft pick.<\/p>\n

And even if Grier can\u2019t flip that No. 9 pick for some defensive help by the draft this weekend, whoever he selects there will be a very valuable asset who hasn\u2019t peaked in value, unlike Eklund, whose value, arguably, could be at the beginning of its decline after his up-and-down year.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see if Eklund can bounce back with the Senators next season. The talented and competitive winger is a good bet to do so.<\/p>\n

But now, the Sharks are armed with the No. 2, No. 9, and No. 27 picks in the 2026 draft. Just speculating, but could No. 9 be a centerpiece in a trade for Vancouver Canucks blueliner Filip Hronek?<\/p>\n

San Jose will have to add more to land Hronek, for sure. Like Byram, Hronek is thought of, ideally, as more of a strong two-way No. 2 defenseman on a playoff-caliber team.<\/p>\n

The right-hander, 28, is older than Byram, and he\u2019s got a full No Movement Clause. Hronek has not signaled that he wants to leave Vancouver, but the last-place Canucks have made clear that they are entering a rebuild.<\/p>\n

Hronek is signed at a very reasonable $7.25 million AAV until 2032, unlike Byram, who is set to become a UFA in 2027.<\/p>\n

On the balance, a Hronek package would probably resemble Byram\u2019s, with the Sharks having to make up the difference between the No. 4 and 9 selections by dipping again into their deep prospects pool and\/or also including the No. 27.<\/p>\n

Multiple league sources, including three NHL scouts, agreed that the No. 9 was a suitable centerpiece for a defenseman of Hronek\u2019s quality.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good starting point, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The white whale could also be out there for Grier.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s credible chatter that reigning Norris Trophy winner Zach Werenski<\/a> could be available this offseason.<\/p>\n

The Columbus Blue Jackets superstar is 28, set to be a UFA in the summer of 2028, so he comes with some flight risk.<\/p>\n

Werenski will also hit 30, when, in theory, complementary potential stars like Will Smith and Igor Chernyshov and Michael Misa are in their primes.<\/p>\n

But Grier, when asked on Tuesday morning about the age range that he\u2019s considering, if he takes a \u201cbig swing\u201d via trade this summer, gave what could be considered a telling answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIdeally, someone in their mid-20\u2019s, early-to-mid 20\u2019s, who’s been in the league a little bit, got through the growing pains, and you have a pretty good idea what that player is and what they can bring to the organization,\u201d Grier said. \u201cSomeone who’s been in the league a little bit, so whether that’s 22, 23 to 27, 28 somewhere in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just speculating: Would you offer the No. 2 and 9 picks to the Blue Jackets, to start, for Werenski?<\/p>\n

These are the kinds of doors that trading Eklund could open for the Sharks … will Grier walk through?<\/p>\n

Download and follow the San Jose Hockey Now podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What\u2019s next for the Sharks after trading William Eklund to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday? The Sharks dealt…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[9898,88,90,89,2105],"class_list":["post-372830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-nhl-draft","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-william-eklund"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372830","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=372830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}