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GOTTA SEE IT: 3 Times Eklund Made Jets Miss

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William Eklund’s nickname, per Brent Burns, is the Gecko because of his elusiveness.

San Jose Sharks president Jonathan Becher spun off that to dub him “Geklund” – and Nick Flohr of the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast made an accompanying Photoshop.

Whatever nickname you prefer – Jasper Weatherby also suggested “Big Ecky” – the San Jose Sharks rookie was making the Winnipeg Jets miss left and right in his NHL debut.

In truth, it was an up-and-down debut for the 2021 seventh-overall pick, but Eklund did earn his first NHL point, an assist on Tomas Hertl’s third period power play goal, and most importantly, the San Jose Sharks came out of their season opener with a 4-3 victory over the visitors.

But my lasting memory of Eklund tonight will be him making the Jets look like Keystone Kops on three occasions.

 

That’s big Logan Stanley (64), by the way.

It’s something that I noticed as far back as a couple weeks ago: The smallish winger had a talent for eluding heavy punishment while still managing to make plays.

Logan Couture actually had another superstar in mind when I asked him about William Eklund’s elusiveness then:

You figure the NHL is going to catch up at some point? Those were some big boys after the 19-year-old tonight.

That said, Eklund has shown a talent for adapting. He’s gotten better and better from development camp to the rookie tournament to preseason.

We’ll see what’s next for the Sharks’ wunderkind.

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