San Jose Sharks send William Eklund to Ottawa Senators for first round pick

SAN JOSE – In one of the more intriguing moves of Mike Grier’s four-year tenure as general manager, the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday traded forwards William Eklund, Kasper Halttunen, and the rights to center Brandon Svoboda to the Ottawa Senators for the ninth overall selection in this year’s NHL draft.

The Sharks now own the second, ninth, and 27th overall picks in the first round of the draft, which is being held on Friday in Buffalo, N.Y. The Senators had just received the No. 9 pick from Florida on Sunday as part of the blockbuster deal that sent winger and U.S. Olympic gold medalist Brady Tkachuk to the Panthers.

The 23-year-old Eklund, who was drafted seventh overall by the Sharks in 2021, was fourth on the team in scoring this past season with 53 points in 78 games. During his Sharks career, Eklund, in 252 games, had 163 points, trailing only Macklin Celebrini’s 178 points in that time. Celebrini just finished his second season.

Eklund was just about to begin a three-year, $16.8 million contract extension he signed with the Sharks last July. The Sharks, per PuckPedia, now have over $46.1 million in cap space for this upcoming season and a total of eight picks in this week’s draft, including four in the first two rounds.

Tuesday’s trade was announced just over two hours after Grier finished his pre-draft availability with local media. While Grier had not directly addressed the Eklund trade and what might be next as of late Tuesday, he said earlier he wouldn’t be shy about making bold, if not controversial, moves.

Grier is scheduled to speak with reporters about the trade on Wednesday morning.

“It’s just all about trying to make the team better,” Grier said when asked how aggressive he wants to be at this time. “If we do something, it’s with that in mind, just trying to improve the roster, make the team better, not only for this year, but for down the road too. That’s always the job here: to make the team better now, but also keep an eye on the future.

“So be aggressive if something kind of fits those two timelines and can make us better now, but then also in the future.”

With 16 players who have notable NHL experience under contract for next season, San Jose will have to spend another $19 million this summer just to reach the salary cap floor of $76.9 million.

While it was costly to give up two prospects in Halttunen and Svoboda and a top-six forward and power-play mainstay like Eklund, who averaged 18:32 in ice time last season, the trade gives Grier and the Sharks plenty of options going forward, and it’ll be interesting to see what’s next.

After the Toronto Maple Leafs pick first overall, the Sharks can use the No. 2 selection on winger Ivar Stenberg or Gavin McKenna, considered the top two players available in this year’s draft, and also address an organizational need by drafting a defenseman at No. 9. While another team would have to knock Grier’s socks off to get the second overall selection, the Sharks, flush with cap space, could also trade the No. 9 pick to get a young NHL player, possibly a defenseman, for immediate help.

McKenna or Stenberg could also likely fit on the Sharks’ roster right away, potentially taking Eklund’s spot in the top six.

“We’re at the right spot in our path here to possibly add a big piece if they became available,” Grier said.

The Sharks have four defensemen who are pending unrestricted free agents. While there have been some discussions with Vincent Desharnais’ camp about an extension and a return to San Jose, the other defensemen, Mario Ferraro, John Klingberg, and Nick Leddy, are expected to go to free agency, which begins on July 1.

Ferraro is the Sharks’ longest tenured player, having just finished his seventh season with the team. Despite his relatively young age, Eklund was the Sharks’ second-longest tenured player, as Grier has completely overhauled the roster in his four years as the team’s GM.

Halttunen, who turned 21 on June 7, had 16 goals and 35 points for the Barracuda this past season in his first full year of professional hockey. The 6-foot-3 winger, drafted 36th overall by the Sharks in 2023, has an NHL-caliber shot and was developing more of an all-around game at the AHL level, but was likely not going to crack the Sharks’ roster out of this fall’s training camp.

The 21-year-old Svoboda, who was taken in the third round in 2023 and remains unsigned, just finished his sophomore season at Boston University, where he had 15 points in 35 games. He also played for Team USA at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship, recording six points in seven games as the Americans won gold.

Eklund, listed at 5-10 and 180 pounds, made some highlight-reel plays in his third full NHL season, but also had bouts of inconsistency.

He finished with two fewer goals and five fewer points than he did during a breakout 2024-25 campaign when he was second in scoring among all Sharks players with 58 points. In 30 games from the second week of January to April 1 this season, Eklund scored just one goal and recorded 14 assists, despite being sixth among all Sharks players in total power play time in that span.

The trade also reunites Eklund with good buddy and fellow Swedish-born forward Fabian Zetterlund, who was traded by the Sharks to the Senators in March 2025 as part of the deal that brought center Zack Ostapchuk to San Jose.

Eklund was upset by the trade at the time, saying he was tired of seeing the Sharks’ roster being continually stripped down. The Sharks finished the 2024-25 season with an NHL-worst 52 points, but with Eklund and the growth of Celebrini and fellow forward Will Smith, improved to 86 points this season, missing the playoffs by just four points.