San Jose Sharks
Preview/Lines #65: Eklund Taking Zetterlund Trade Hard
William Eklund is taking the Fabian Zetterlund trade hard.
On Friday, San Jose Sharks GM Mike Grier sent his best friend Zetterlund to the Ottawa Senators in a surprise last-minute Trade Deadline deal.
Since the Sharks acquired Zetterlund in Feb. 2023, the young Swedish wingers have been inseparable, on and off the ice, spending meals and holidays and more together.
Eklund posted these Zetterlund pictures on his Instagram after the trade.
The San Jose Sharks are sensitive to their 2021 first-round pick’s pain.
Eklund declined to speak to the media after morning skate today, an unusual occurrence.
New alternate captain Alex Wennberg went out of his way to speak for his young countryman, taking questions on his behalf.
Wennberg, 30, gets it. He remembered in 2017, when the Vegas Golden Knights selected his best friend William Karlsson from the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Expansion Draft.
“Being a Swede, you have guys you rely on and guys you’re hanging out with a bunch,” Wennberg said about the importance of kinship in a foreign place. “You hang out with a guy everyday, and then all of a sudden, you’re on two different teams.”
Wennberg and fellow alternate captain Tyler Toffoli and head coach Ryan Warsofsky shared that they all spoke with Eklund yesterday.
“An emotional day for him, and it’s going to take some time. He’s a young kid himself. He’s not just going to show up today with a big smile on his face, ready to go,” Warsofsky said, after morning skate, getting a little choked up himself. “It’s tough. So we got to put our arms around him a little bit, and we got to be there to support him. He just lost his best friend. I feel for him.”
It’s a hard lesson for the 22-year-old Eklund, but it’s good that players who have been there, done that, are there for him.
“It’s not the first and not the last time,” Wennberg said, “it’s just how it works.”
“We’ve got a really close group of guys here that he can lean on,” Toffoli said. “I think he’ll be just fine.”
San Jose Sharks (17-38-9)
Alexandar Georgiev will start.
#SJSharks morning skate lines, Gregor not here yet, working out immigration:
Eklund-Wennberg-Toffoli
Kostin-Celebrini-Smith
Kovalenko-Dellandrea-Graf
Grundstrom-Giles-GoodrowFerraro-Mukhamadullin
Vlasic-Liljegren
Thrun-Desharnais— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 8, 2025
“A guy who can, hopefully, win a job at 4C with his size,” Warsofsky said of Patrick Giles, making his Sharks’ debut, along with defenseman Vincent Desharnais. “Smart player, so he’s gonna get a good opportunity here.”
#SJSharks PP1 at morning skate: Wennberg-Celebrini-Smith-Eklund-Toffoli
PP2: Liljegren-Mukhamadullin-Graf-Kovalenko-Kostin— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) March 8, 2025
New York Islanders (28-26-7)
Get all your New York Islanders lines and updates at NYI Hockey Now.
Ilya Sorokin will start.
Palmieri-Horvat-Duclair
Lee-Pageau-Holmstrom
Fasching-Cizikas-Tsyplakov
Engvall-MacLean-Gatcomb
Extra: (Martin)
Romanov-DeAngelo
Pelech-Dobson
Mayfield-Pulock
Extras: Perunovich Boqvist (Reilly)
Sorokin
Skarek
(Hogberg)— Andrew Gross (@AGrossNewsday) March 7, 2025
Where To Watch
Puck drop between the San Jose Sharks and New York Islanders is 7 PM PT at SAP Center. Watch it live on NBC Sports California. Listen to it on the Sharks Audio Network.
Kostin back in the top 6. Woof.
GM Grier has no understanding of heart, grit — the qualities which bind a team togetherl
Yeah no understanding. I mean he totally had zero of those qualities as an NHLer himself for 15 years.
give me a break
Yeah, the guy was literally described as a heart and grit type of player during his very decorated 14 year career over 1040 games in the NHL. Some people are just delusional.
hey nice to have you back to say more dumb shit.💩
If that gets him going, then it’s totally worth it. Kostin is a great player when he’s firing on all cylinders.
He rarely fires on all cylinders, and when he does it doesn’t last for more than a game or two. I’m done with the Kostin experiment, he’s had every chance to do something and for whatever reason, he just ain’t it.
Welp, that’s incorrect but you do you.😉
“Great player”? Come on now, let’s not go overboard. He’s physical and impactful but he’s far from great.
Dude was a difference maker and one of the more effective players prior to the injury. We’ll see if he can get back on track. When he’s playing well he’s more effective physically than Zetterlund and a better play maker. He obviously can’t touch Zetterlund as far as goal scoring though and consistency over a season.
I feel for Eklund. Hopefully with a little TLC he will get past this…
He will. By next year he’ll be just another “it’s part of the business” guys.
Let’s go Sharks!!! A goal, big hit, or fight from one of the new dudes would be electrifying!!!
Insult to injury Ecky lost his partner? Damn that’s brutal.
Not at all!
Just saw that Walman is on HNIC After Hours tonight.
Yesterday was rough as a fan Can’t imagine what Eky is going thru. This was a clip I pulled up as a reminder that these guys are human: https://youtu.be/3IWMBJI_Q3I?si=HumZO_F3_jY1SZSo
Eklund is getting a dose of reality in the NHL. Friends are going to move to another team and he’ll gain new friends. This is the league since the first ever trade in 1919. It’s a business. The best way to move forward is have a great finish to the year and enjoy playing with his current teammates, many of whom he’ll be competing for a cup with in a few years time. Grier said the time of mass selling is over and building begins, he’s clearly part of the new core and should be happy his GM sees him… Read more »
Best way to get over it is to look at your direct deposit statement lol
That’s one way!
Dude, you are dismissing the human element in all this. The amount of feigned (?) dispassion on this board is odd in that all sports, emotion is a big part of the game.
You talk as if it’s easy to move on when one of your friends and a favorite “co-worker” is suddenly gone. In any line of work, there’s reasons (oft-times people) that we look forward to going to work. In an extremely tough season, this was taken away after this
week’s gutting.
It’s premature to pass judgement on the Zetterlund deal in either direction, but I will say this – team chemistry and culture are critical, both in terms of winning championships and fans.
Yes but for the most part it resets in the off season and is re established in training camp.
My evolving take on the Zetterlund deal.
If GMMG wanted the sort of player he describes, I’d rather he pay Zetterlund plus something for a Charlie Coyle sort than Zetterlund minus something for an Ostapchuk.
Get a similar player with more ability and be OK paying up for it.
He did specifically say he wanted a young player in the same age window as Celebrini, Smith and Eklund
Zetts is only 25!! How does that age player not fit into the plan? MG says he wants a certain type of player and Z fit that mode in several ways. Feels like it was all about the $$$. I think back to last year when Z and Duclair were often on the same line and created a nice chemistry. Grier threw a wrench into that by trading Duke away. Again, he is messing w/ built up chemistry by making this trade. Chemistry & Trust; important elements that I do believe Grier made a mistake on w/ this one. He… Read more »
Vanacek with a shutout for Florida tonight
Amazing what an iron willed defense first hard forechecking culture will do for a goalie
And playing Buffalo
Maybe the wheels really are coming off. Never had this happen, but my totally legit ticket was scanning that it was a screenshot even as the barcode thing moved side to side and took me forever to get in. Just let me go!
Then my wallet wouldn’t work to buy food.
GRIER IS A JOKE AS GM…Trades Zetterlund, but still keeps crappy Georgiev.. Worthless goaltending.. Said it all year
Such drama. People are just incapable of understanding the long game or objectively evaluating the process.
Are you being objective though? Remember the 76ers vaunted “trust the process” motif? Now you’ve got a chronically injured Embid and a team on the cusp of imploding. Not saying this is where the Sharks are headed but at a certain point, it can’t be all about the prospects. Noah Gregor for God’s sake!!!!!