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.
