Cohen Thinks Sharks Were Right to Send Eklund Back

Did the San Jose Sharks do the right thing for William Eklund by sending him back to Sweden?

There might be no clear-cut right answer — Sharks GM Doug Wilson called it “one of the toughest decisions we have had to make.”

Count prospects guru Russ Cohen, from EP Rinkside and SiriusXM NHL Network Radio, as someone who agrees whole-heartedly with the Sharks’ decision.

“Folks in the media, like us, will see a prospect and say he looks really good, he should stay,” Cohen said on the San Jose Hockey Now Podcast. “Not really thinking what might this prospect look like 60 games down the road.”

Sheng, however, sticks to his guns and maintains that Eklund made this current San Jose Sharks squad better and should’ve stayed for the Sharks’ playoff push.

“Is it so cut and dried out that he couldn’t develop with the Sharks [this year] and get better as the season went on? He’s a hockey IQ guy, he’s not going to get that much stronger this season. A lot of that work will be done over the summer, right? So he’s going to survive by his hockey IQ,” Peng countered. “And he had been surviving, and in some cases, thriving with the Sharks. Why couldn’t that have continued?”

Sheng and Russ also argue about what’s best for Eklund in the long-term (1:13:02).

Before that, Nick Flohr and Sheng debate every young and/or unproven player who the San Jose Sharks have thrown out there because of all the Sharks in COVID protocol. Have any youngsters done enough to stay with the big club?

Sheng thinks only one Sharkcuda player deserves to graduate to full-time Shark.

That’s one from Jonah Gadjovich (12:00), John Leonard (20:00), Nick Merkley (27:24), Santeri Hatakka (36:22), Artemi Kniazev, Jaycob Megna (45:25), Nicolas Meloche, and Ryan Merkley (52:59).

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