Sharks Locker Room: Eklund Becoming a Winning Player

William Eklund hasn’t won a lot in his career, but he’s becoming a winning player.

The offense is obvious: The San Jose Sharks winger put up three points in a 6-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings, highlighted by this brilliant pass to Nico Sturm.

Shorty alert 🚨 pic.twitter.com/vw1RLMWZyq

— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) January 15, 2025

When did Eklund see Sturm?

“From the beginning, pretty much. Saw the three guys on me,” he said. “When I turned my back a little bit, I saw Nico coming there, and he made a hell of a play on the breakaway.”

The 22-year-old is on pace for the first 60-point campaign of his career, on the heels of 45 points in his first full season last year.

But it’s Eklund’s apprenticeship in the little things that are making him more valuable.

Linemate Macklin Celebrini noted, “His compete, he’s always working. He’s always trying to make the right play, and he’s always on puck.”

Compete is just one of those little things. Eklund cares a lot about defense, and he’s grown in that area since the San Jose Sharks made him the No. 7 pick of the 2021 Draft.

So much so, Eklund is one of just two wingers from the 2021, 2022, 2023, or 2024 Drafts to average over 17 minutes overall, two power play, and one short-handed minutes a night.

The other is the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Matthew Knies, a second-round pick of the 2021 Draft.

Obviously, forwards from the more recent Drafts are still emerging, and Eklund is still refining his two-way game, but he’s becoming an excellent all-around winger, and he’s only getting better.

The dish to Sturm reminded me of this pass that Eklund made as a 19-year-old trying to stick in the NHL.

I'm not given to exaggeration, but this is hockey genius from Eklund: He turns back, draws 3 #Preds to him, then gets it behind the defense to create a 2-on-1 out of literal thin air pic.twitter.com/uW5L9bg3fA

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 27, 2021

It’s not a carbon copy, but in much the same way, a retreating Eklund pulls multiple defenders to him, which opens up space for his linemates.

I spoke with William Eklund after this pass in 2021 — check out the Mikael Granlund with the Nashville Predators cameo!

It’s impressive to see how Eklund has grown as an overall player without losing his skill.

It’s a good reminder — especially in 19-year-old Will Smith’s rookie season — that skill isn’t enough to become a winning player in the NHL.

Ryan Warsofsky

Warsofsky, on Alexandar Georgiev’s game:

He was really good tonight. You can tell he was tracking pucks. He was locked in, made some huge saves for us.You could see his game has been trending in the right direction. So happy that he got rewarded tonight with a win, for sure.

Warsofsky, on Smith’s response after getting benched last game:

It was a step in the right direction.He got on the scoresheet, I think he was around the puck more. His puck play on the wall was better.

Warsofsky, on Eklund taking it to another level:

Eky’s really figured it out and gotten to the inside of the ice. He scores a goal because he gets off the wall, wins his race to the net, gets to the inside ice, something that we’ve been talking to him a lot about. He wants the puck on a stick. He’s a guy that wants to be out there in important moments.

Warsofsky, on Celebrini’s ability to catch pucks:

He’s worked extremely hard at that skill, picking up pucks off the yellow [dasher]. That is one of the hardest things to do for young players, is picking up pucks off the yellow, getting your head up and making a play. We’ve noticed it all year that he’s elite at that ability. Elite, elite. It’s a special talent.

Macklin Celebrini

Celebrini, on wanting to respond right after his line gave up a goal to Lucas Raymond:

We wanted to get on them right away. And Eky just said, let’s do it right away, and it actually turned into a goal. We just wanted to answer because we know that wasn’t good enough on that goal [we gave up].

Celebrini, on what’s so dangerous about Eklund:

His compete, he’s always working. You can never fault him for that. He’s always trying to make the right play, and he’s always on puck. When you have a guy like that, and also with the amount of skill he has, he creates a lot.

Watch the full interview here

William Eklund

Eklund, on when he saw Sturm on his pass:

From the beginning, pretty much. Saw the three guys on me. When I turned my back a little bit, I saw Nico coming there, and he made a hell of a play on the breakaway.

Watch the full interview here

Jan Rutta

Rutta, on the San Jose Sharks not panicking after the Red Wings made it 2-1:

We’ve been in this situation more than a few times this year. We got the job done today. Hopefully, that’s a sign of us taking steps in the right direction, when we have the lead, we can play like tonight.

Rutta, on Celebrini and Eklund:

A lot of fun. A lot of skill, a lot of speed. Just happy I don’t have to defend them.