{"id":504615,"date":"2026-10-22T20:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T20:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/504615\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T20:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T20:58:09","slug":"ottawa-senators-william-eklund-looking-ahead-after-trade-from-sharks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/504615\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa Senators’ William Eklund looking ahead after trade from Sharks"},"content":{"rendered":"

KANATA, Ont. \u2013 With shaggy blonde hair<\/a> and a modest beard around his chin and cheeks, William Eklund is no longer the fresh-faced teenager<\/a> expected to lead the San Jose Sharks into a more prosperous era.<\/p>\n

Drafted seventh overall<\/a> by the Sharks in 2021, Eklund immediately became the team\u2019s top prospect as he injected hope into a downtrodden franchise. He played well enough to start the season in the NHL before being returned to his home country of Sweden after nine games.<\/p>\n

Fast forward five years, and Eklund, after a trade from San Jose to Ottawa,<\/a> not only looks a bit different but is in a new country with a new organization. With the Senators, he isn\u2019t seen as the savior, but as someone who, once he\u2019s healthy again, can contribute to an already deep and tenacious forward group.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis playing style is great, and he fits perfectly in this group,\u201d said Fabian Zetterlund, Eklund\u2019s good friend now in his second full season with the Senators. \u201cHe\u2019s fun to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eklund is expected to be out several more weeks<\/a> after recently undergoing surgery to repair torn tendons in his left ankle. Eklund sustained the injury during a game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Oct. 8 when defenseman Simon Benoit hit him against the boards.<\/p>\n

Besides Thursday\u2019s game between the Sharks and Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre, Eklund will also have to miss the Oct. 31 game between the two teams at SAP Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to be out there today, of course,\u201d Eklund told a large group of reporters on Thursday in his first media availability since the injury. \u201cBut maybe the next time.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a year mostly in the AHL, Eklund\u2019s first full year with the Sharks came during the 2023-24 season. He was the team\u2019s second-leading scorer with 45 points in 80 games, then followed up the next season with 58 points in 77 games, setting career highs with 17 goals and 41 assists.<\/p>\n

In both years, though, the Sharks lost far more than they won, and finished last in the NHL standings with a combined record of 39-104-21.<\/p>\n

But with some young, talented pieces in place and Macklin Celebrini having a record-setting season, the Sharks started to emerge from their deep rebuild in 2025-26 and narrowly missed the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Would it have been nice for Eklund to see it through with the Sharks?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a business,\u201d Eklund said. \u201cI was having really good years there. I appreciate everybody there. They took me into their city, and the fans took me in really well, and I appreciate all the guys and all the staff that had me there.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we\u2019re going forward here. New team here. I\u2019m happy here. So, I\u2019m not going to go into that (any) further. But I (loved) my time in San Jose.\u201d<\/p>\n

A confluence of events led to Eklund\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n

Brady Tkachuk wanted out of Ottawa after eight seasons with the Senators and was traded to the Florida Panthers on June 21 for four draft picks, including the ninth overall pick in this year\u2019s draft. Two days later, the Panthers shipped Eklund, winger Kasper Halttunen, and the rights to Brandon Svoboda to Ottawa for the No. 9 pick.<\/p>\n

Sharks general manager Mike Grier wasn\u2019t looking to trade Eklund,<\/a> but in June said the deal with Senators GM Steve Staios \u201ccame together fairly quickly\u201d after Ottawa moved Tkachuk.<\/p>\n

The Sharks also fortuitously won the right to select No. 2 overall, meaning they would likely take whoever was available between Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg, wingers considered the top two available players.<\/p>\n

Coming off wrist surgery to repair a laceration<\/a> after an on-ice accident during a World Championship exhibition game, Eklund had 53 points in 78 games last season, and was about to enter the first year of a three-year, $16.8 million deal.<\/p>\n

There was perhaps a perception, too,<\/a> that Stenberg\u2019s or McKenna\u2019s production would be commensurate with Eklund\u2019s, for a lower short-term price.<\/p>\n

Shortly before Stenberg became a Shark, Grier sent Eklund to Ottawa.<\/p>\n

Did Eklund have a sense about what was coming?<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mind wasn\u2019t there, to be honest,\u201d Eklund said. \u201cIn the offseason, you\u2019re just so focused on getting better (and working) to come back in good shape and be good when you go back. It wasn\u2019t in my thought, really, so I can\u2019t say yes or no for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did Eklund feel he needed to fill some of the void left by Tkachuk, Ottawa\u2019s captain for five seasons, with 213 goals and 463 points in 572 games?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re completely different players, first of all, and I\u2019m just coming in here trying to do my thing and trying to bring the best game I can from San Jose to here,\u201d Eklund said. \u201cI think (I was) doing that in my first (four) games, and just kind of being my own player and being a great teammate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reuniting with Zetterlund eased the transition, after the two became good friends during their three years as teammates in San Jose. Zetterlund was traded to Ottawa in March 2025 as part of the deal that brought center Zack Ostapchuk and a 2025 second-round pick (Cole McKinney) to San Jose.<\/p>\n

Eklund was playing his fourth game with the Senators when the injury occurred. In the previous game, Eklund had a goal and an assist in a 5-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe stepped in right away and had no problem with that,\u201d Zetterlund said. \u201cHe loves it here too, and unfortunately, can\u2019t be out there with us. But he\u2019s still in the locker room every day, and just you can see how hard (he\u2019s working) to get back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eklund wasn\u2019t happy to see Zetterlund go, and wondered when the Sharks would stop selling off players at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

He now knows anything can happen, even to a player like him, once thought to be a future Sharks cornerstone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in this league and learned how it works, and that it\u2019s a business where anything can happen; everything is open.\u201d Eklund said. \u201cThat was probably the first eye-opening moment for me. And now you kind of know how it is, and you accept it. We\u2019re all players, so we accept it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KANATA, Ont. \u2013 With shaggy blonde hair and a modest beard around his chin and cheeks, William Eklund…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[401,402,181,404,88,90,89,98,403,94685,127],"class_list":["post-504615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-hockey","tag-inside-sports","tag-latest-headlines","tag-nhl","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sharks-alert","tag-social-alert","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504615","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=504615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}