San Jose Sharks
Victor Eklund on William Eklund’s Impact on Him, Frondell Plans To Play for Djurgårdens Next Year
What does William Eklund’s brother think he does better than the current NHL’er?
Victor Eklund, younger brother of San Jose Sharks winger William, took questions with Djurgardens teammate Anton Frondell as part of the 2025 NHL Scouting Combine. While both are projected a little lower than the Sharks’ second-overall pick in most mock drafts, they are worthy consolation prizes for any team selecting in the top 10.
Both players will return to Djurgårdens next season after the team was promoted to the SHL last season. Frondell talked about preparing for his first SHL season, while Eklund shared a hilarious story about facing Frondell in youth hockey.
Eklund, on playing with Frondell:
It’s been pretty easy to play with him. We didn’t get to do it in the start of the season, but we had to tell the coach that we need to play and we did it. I think we did pretty well. Anton is a tank. He’s got a shot like a missile. He’s just a really great player. So it’s been pretty easy.
Eklund, on a player he compares himself to:
I’ll probably say Travis Konecny. Definitely plays with a lot of energy, trying to get under the skin of the opponents. Just plays pretty physical, like I do.
Eklund, on his history with Frondell:
We actually played against each other when we [were] young… When we were 10-years-old, I remember playing him, and he actually made a move on me. [Put] the puck between my legs. I just can’t forget that. He says he doesn’t remember that. [But,] I know. So we’ve been playing against each other, but we really got to know each other when both of us started playing for Djurgarden.
Eklund, on repeatedly asking his coach to put the two of them on a line together:
Because I know we played really good together. I just knew from the beginning that if we get the opportunity, we’ll take it and we’ll be the best line. I think we did pretty good. Coach probably got sick of me asking, so they finally put us together.
Frondell, on that move:
I actually do remember. (laughs)
Eklund, on what he does better than his brother and what advice he’s been given:
(jokingly) Everything.
I feel like I’m more physical than him, but he’s just really good at everything he does. That’s probably one thing, the only thing, I’m better than him at.
Just kind of how to be a pro, in my age, the age of 18. He helps me a lot [with] how you eat right, how you sleep right, and how you work out right. So I guess that’s been pretty easy for me to have him helping me out. Just a really great role model.
Frondell, on playing alongside Eklund:
Victor is easy to play with. I don’t think I’ve played with so much energy. He wins every battle. Even when we play against men, Victor wins all the pucks battles. It’s easy for me finding [him in an] open spot. Most of the time I got the puck right on [my] tape, so it’s easy for me too. We like playing with each other.
Frondell, on a player he compares himself to:
I will see him play tonight: [Aleksander] Barkov, in Florida. Captain, good size, strong, good hockey sense, smart player that likes to compete. I would say Barkov, I play like him.
Frondell, on helping promote Djurgarden to the SHL:
I grew up in Stockholm. It’s where I live, where I [have] always lived. Since I was born, I was a fan of Djurgardens. So today, playing for them is really cool, and being a part of the team who won the Allsvenskan and went up to [the] SHL is a cool experience.
Frondell, on what he’s worked on so far this offseason:
Everything. Back in Sweden, you have your shooting coach, you have your skating coach, different skills. You have off-ice for [strength] in the gym. It’s important to do everything, because now also playing [in the] SHL is a better league. Playing [against] better players, probably stronger too. So just keep getting stronger and [get] better at everything on the ice.
Grier should trade up for Eklund. A draft with Mrtka, Eklund would be perfection. A big rhd and Williams brother. Misa is overrated and Schaefer is not much better than Gavrikov. Mrtka is the next Tyler Myers.
Down vote all you want. I’m right. I am expert.
Marchand is definitely proving that the little guys can.step up in the playoffs. But I don’t think Misa is overated. I think he’s a bigger, more two way Will Smith, though slightly less offensively gifted, I think. I still think that’s a 100 pt guy, though. I definitely wouldn’t mind Gavrikov.as a signing, though. Add Fabbro and one more RHD trade acquisition and that would be the major blue line upgrade I’d want to see. Eklund will need two more years, one in Sweden, one in the AHL.not sure if that’s something Grier will want to do. I actually think… Read more »
I really don’t understand the push for Fabbro that seems to be rippling through the fan base. This is a guy who was on waivers last year. He’s undersized. He had half a good season playing with a Norris trophy finalist. He’s going to get overpaid due to his position and handedness. No track record of sustained success. Talk about bust candidates. Help me see what I’m missing here.
JD if LOS was pretty convincing? Apparently Fabbros advanced stats were good even when not with a Norris candidate. On D you still have to play well to have good results even if your partner is great. Ferraro case in point. He was paired with someone over the last few years who was good but had shit stats because he kept trying and failing to be the outlet passer and puck transporter which he objectively sucks at. Vlasic used to do something similar. In both cases they should have gotten it to their partner who was objectively better at those… Read more »
Yeah I figured it must be coming from LOS. That’s the only place I’ve heard it and now the fanbase is regurgitating the idea. I still haven’t heard anything that convinces me it’s a good plan to hand out a 4-5 year deal to a guy who has had half a good season in one very specific situation. The Sharks need certainty on their blue line. Fabbro doesn’t offer certainty.
I’m not sure what length is appropriate but he seems like a pretty good upgrade and would make a good partner for Shak it seems.
Yeah, look Fabbro up, he’s objectively good. It was a mistake that he went on waivers and Grier missed him last year. Your argument isn’t that different from “Well Lane Hutson was a 2nd rounder so I don’t get the fuss.” It’s what they do on the ice. Also, it’s an object lesson about Ferraro and Liljegren. The team should definitely give these guys one more chance to pop in their age 26-27 seasons. Lots of D-men figure it out at this age, and it could save the team $5M+ AAV if they do it this year and the team… Read more »
“Look him up?” Really? Come on, dude. Do I seem like I don’t do research?
My argument is nothing like that ridiculous Hutson comparison. I’m not arguing that Fabbro sucks because he was once on waivers. I’m arguing that he’s a risky signing because his track record says he is not the player we saw in Columbus.
Fabbro has played seven NHL seasons. He has averaged more than 19 minutes a night for half of one. I learned that while I was looking him up.
It’s kind of fun offending you, I won’t lie. Again, he broke out at the age D-men often break out. He was a very good player last year. I’m not suggesting a long term deal, but I think that in a year where the RHD are mostly signing back with their original teams, Fabbro might be the best option.
I actually think Professor Hockey was the first one on Fabbro, not LOS
We gave up 4 goals a game last season and sure the goal tending wasn’t stellar but how many hundreds of times did we give up a goal with someone standing all alone in front our net while 5 of our guys are standing still thumbing their ass? We don’t need Bobby Orr…yet, we need professional NHL defenders that stay in between the puck and our net, and don’t let the opponent plant their flag in our crease. We need good players.
We do need Bobby Orr. But until he gets there it would be nice to have more than 1 maybe 2 D who can complete a break out pass. Fabbro is good at this. In general he’s batter than most on our roster. Better than Lily, Ferraro, Deharnais, Thompson and Thrun. Sign him and trade Lily and or Ferraro
Fabbro would seem to be a noticeable upgrade versus several of our current D men. And, with hindsight (and even at the time) it seems strange that a defensively challenged team like SJ didn’t claim him off waivers last year. As a pending UFA, it wouldn’t have cost much to test drive him even if he didn’t pan out. But that ship has sailed. While I agree he likely is who he is at this point (an undersized D, good for 30-ish points, a little puckhandling, and good outlet passes), that’s not a bad player to have around for a… Read more »
Agreed. If he’s signed for 4-5 years he can progressively move down the pairs as the d improves. You could do a lot worse at 3rd pair RD than Fabbro IMO.
I like it, but is our goalie, Askarov, really good enough? This shouldn’t stop a deal for Fabbro or any other need at D. But the goalie situation is not settled for me. Others have mentioned Allen as our backup, but maybe Askarov should be our backup and we go for someone already tested. Everyone thinks Askarov is a slam dunk but that’s not what I came away from this season with. He needs to compete with someone with a strong track record.
Allen can start enough in the 1st half and Askarov has already proven he’s ready to play in the NHL. There might be other option thru trade but Allens the best option because he’s still good and they can overpay him on a 2 year deal which it about perfect as far as the timeline.
can Asky be a starter? I can only go by what the experts say and what we saw. I think he’s a starter by mid season. He’s paid his AHL dues.
I thought he was decent prior to last year in Nash? Thought there were mitigating circumstances to his rough start last season. I dunno but D definitely have a habit of taking forever to figure it all out and his results ended up being really good on a mostly bad team.
You know who I wish the Sharks hadn’t traded? Middleton. The track record seems very similar to Fabbro
Edit: The other comment I’d like to tack on is that anyone who is worried about overpaying Fabbro should remember that Kovacevic signed for 5/$20M a few months back. I said that was a bad life choice. Fabbro is gonna make more this offseason, maybe not in total value, but definitely AAV. I’m guessing 3/$16M for Dante
Yeah that one hurt long term. Was that Grier or DW? I can’t remember anymore. I assume DW…? Middleton is very tall though.
It was the Wilson regime. Wilson might have been on his medical leave of absence.
Thank you. Yeah a very unfortunate transaction to try and shore up awful goaltending.
I wish they kept Walman.
I’d argue that you could distill Grier’s job down to “Get as many fab bros as possible”.
And this is the best reason to bring him in so we can recycle this joke! Excellent!
No ideas what this references…?
His name is Fabbro. Fab bro. Get it?
There was no laughing emoji so shorky couldn’t figure out it was a joke.
you’re a dumb shit. It’s obvious it was an attempt at humor but I was hoping it was some movie reference or something with more of an inside angle that I hadn’t heard of. Not something a toddler might come up with. That was lame even for a “Dad joke”. Is this what passes for humor with your generation? 😵
10 minutes between your post and the edit. Could you be more shook?
Huh? What are you even talking about? Shook? My edit was immediate. I like to fix my misspellings. Dude you’re the one who has me living rent free in that little studio apartment you call a mind. Who even pays attention to that kind of minutia unless you’re obsessing over me. 😘
That’s really the extent of the joke…? Huh..
Marchand is and has always been, since he found his game, a unique producer. You can’t expect anything close from other similar size players. Theron Fluery was a great producer back in the day when it was far more difficult to make it as an undersized player. Marty St Louis too. But those guys are the exception not the rule.
Let me be clear, the Marchand thing was kind of a joke. When he got that breakaway in overtime that was basically a carbon copy of his earlier shorty, I yelled, “God, not again”, I knew he was gonna bury it. But I know he’s a one-off. The only way I would want Viktor for the Sharks is if they trade William for him.
sorta surprised in the ‘smaller F playoff performer’ discussion, no one mentioned Marchessault. Smaller guy, won the Conn Smythe just 2 years ago.
Kind of a Marchand-style player. Eklund projects to be more productive, albeit less of a pest.
I don’t have an issue with smaller players on top teams. There’s a big difference between having 1 or 2 of those sorts and having 5 or 6.
Brayden Point.
The whole line of discussion is stupid. Of course you don’t have to have all hulking beasts to win a Cup.
It’s sort of like the No Homers Club. It’s the No HomerSssss… You can have one. But the rest of the line needs to be able to create some push and last year, the Sharks had nobody who could do that. Eklund had to do a lot of battling on the boards, and when he spends all his time doing that, it’s harder to make plays. Eky in space is a force. He scraps behind the net, but ideally someone else would be taking a good chunk of that work off his plate. Hell, Trent Frederic might be a good… Read more »
Nice straw man argument.🤣
Exactly. Will Eklund become Theo Fleury? Probably not. Marchand? Doug Gilmour, Patrick Kane, or Brayden Point? Maybe not. But the more sub-6 foot players we mention that have succeeded in the post season, the more ridiculous it becomes to say that small players can’t be top 6 players on a cup team.
Everyone of those small players mentioned does something elite or has an elite trait. Eklund shares none of them. That has always been my contention. That and drafting small and hoping for one of those unicorns is a great way to lose your job (where’s DWjr?).
Instead of continuing to list more players of similar stature who’ve enjoyed success as part of winning postseason teams, I’ll just state the obvious: you have a lesser opinion of Eklund’s ceiling than I do. And that’s ok. One of us will be proven wrong.
I hope it’s me.
Look at a picture of Marchand last night after he scored that goal. Look at his face. The look in his eyes, the crazed lunacy that just oozes out of the man… That’s why he succeeds. Theo Fleury was a crazy person. Point and Kane had crazy skill and amazing and huge teammates. I don’t think Eklund quite has that. His brother might, but then he might not be as skilled as William. Now if William takes $7M a year, the team can probably work with that. But there are lots of ways to put a team together. I think… Read more »
While I think I have a more optimistic view of Eklund’s potential than some, I agree that, for a smaller player to be successful, he has to be more skilled and/or more dogged in the way he plays. I see flashes of both things in Eklund. Hopefully he can find the next level of both.
And amen to the idea that there are lots of ways to construct a successful team.
The DNA is not there to compare him with Fleury. However, if Eklund could become a 30+ goal scorer, this team would soar and we would have 3 30goal scorers on board. Then, with Misa selected, Grier could focus on D and goalkeeping. This would be the best scenario, imo.
Marchesault has been a big clutch goal scorer since he went to Vegas. Some see Eklund in this light whereas I see him as Marner order from Wish or Temu.😜🤣🤣
Eklund’s 22, Marchessault didn’t get to Vegas until he was 26. To be blunt, the Sharks haven’t had a lot of ‘clutch goal’ situations.
I sure wouldn’t mind if the Celebrini ‘dog on a bone’ mindset rubbed off on him. Something his brother seems to have according to the scouts.
Well, one *could* conceivably argue that the team lost about 152 out of 157 one goal games last year and they could have used some “clutch goals” sprinkled in.
And yeah, on Viktor, watch some of his World Juniors highlights. The kid gets after it.
Exactly. Lots of opportunities to score clutch goals in the regular season in January.
Younger brother is typically a good bet to be a more fierce competitor.
To be fair, Eichel was robbed on that con smythe vote. He was clearly the catalyst for that Vegas team and Marchesault benefitted from the tough minutes that Eichel logged. Didn’t Eichel lead the team in scoring as well as take on the toughest matchups?
lol! So dumb but it’s funny that you lean into it.🤣🤣
I really did expect a flood of downvotes from the cannibals in our midst
And now I have the same number of downvotes as the guy who said we should take Mrtka over Misa. Anyone who was talking about Rathje the other day will love Mrtka. He plays like a teddy bear
I do see a lot of comments on how ‘meh’ this draft is. In 2021, William Eklund went 7th overall, and I think a lot of people were surprised he fell that far. The 2021 draft produced a good number of productive players, consistent with a typical draft. At the very high end, might be a disappointment, but the quantity of quality players is definitely there. In 2025, Victor Eklund, who looks more promising then William did in his draft, is ranked 8th in the collection of 7 rankings I looked at. To me, this suggests the 2025 is more… Read more »
People way underestimated his offensive ability. There were many who thought his ceiling was 70 pts and a great 2 way center. Now, it’s more like 120 pts and perennial Selke chatter.
I was on record saying I thought Celebrini’s profile was more valuable than Bedard’s despite a supposed disparity in offensive skill because of the two way game, I just love the two way guys, which is why I always supported Dickinson over Buium. But if that disparity doesn’t exist and Celebrini is actually better on that side, too… Whew.
Combine results, top 10 lists:
Barely making any appearances: Matthew Schaefer (1) and Michael Misa (0). Martone makes 2 appearances
Notable that several players around 30 and 33 were on these list.
Charlie Trethaway and Charlton Trethaway, I think, are the same guy and appeared a bunch. As did Gastrin. Zonnon, Vansaghi
No idea about Sean Barnhill, but his name appears a bunch and he’s a 6’5 RHD. I think Carter Klippenstein appeared the most. never heard of him, either
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25203255-nhl-combine-2025-full-results-measurements-highlights-and-top-prospects