Eklund on What Zetterlund Meant to Him, Being Tired of Losing

As far as William Eklund is concerned, the San Jose Sharks traded a literal family member in Fabian Zetterlund away.

“He’s family for me, his family is my family. We hang out. We have Christmas together,” Eklund said on Monday, after declining to speak on Saturday about the Trade Deadline deal of his best friend to the Ottawa Senators. “That’s one of the toughest days of my life.”

Since the San Jose Sharks acquired Zetterlund in the Timo Meier trade in Feb. 2023, the Swedish duo has literally been inseparable, on and off the ice.

They were even hanging out at the sauna, when Zetterlund found out about the trade.

After practice, the 22-year-old spoke about the trade, his chat with GM Mike Grier about it, what Zetterlund meant to him, his excitement to embrace a larger leadership role on the San Jose Sharks, and being tired of losing.

William Eklund, on his Trade Deadline thoughts in general:

It’s tough. A lot of difficult decisions that they had to do. I don’t really know what to say about the Deadline thing. But it’s obviously tough on all us.

Eklund, on how he found out about the Fabian Zetterlund trade:

We were having a sauna. We’re taking a sauna together, and we came out of the sauna. Saw the call. Never going back there, that’s for sure. (laughs)

Eklund, on how often he hung out with Zetterlund:

Everyday.

Eklund, on how Zetterlund helped him in his NHL career:

It’s tough. It’s tough. (chokes up)

Eklund, on if he’s talked with Mike Grier about the trade:

We had a chat. Not going to go into what that was about.

Obviously, we lost a great teammate. We lost a couple great teammates.

In Zetts, we lost a competitor, never seen anything like it. We lost a guy who wanted to be here every day, want to work hard every day. He was buying in and everything. But it’s part of business…tough to say something about it.

We’re all sick of losing here. I hope this was a move in the right direction.

Eklund, on if the San Jose Sharks are going in the right direction:

It’s obviously going in the right direction. We got a lot of good pieces around here. We know that. Now it’s just time to start building here.

Me personally, I think it’s time to stop losing. I want to win, and I’m sick of losing. Gets into your head. It gets into your off-days. You think about it and stuff like that. I’m sick of losing. Hopefully, a few years [from] now, you get a laugh about it.

Wish him the best of luck in Ottawa. I hope he wins the Cup right now. Then see each other in the summer.

Eklund, on if Grier gave his assurances that the San Jose Sharks will be better next year:

It’s pretty obvious everybody wants that. It’s nothing to hide about. We can say everything we want. I think, Mike, obviously, wants to turn this around quick. I want to turn this around quick. We have a couple other guys want to turn this around quick.

We got to come in here and try these last 17 games to be, I’m gonna try to be better player than I was in the beginning of the season and keep going. I know a lot of the other guys are gonna be better. Gotta step into some roles here, even in the locker room. You gotta be more vocal, including me. I gotta take that step.

Eklund, on message that Ryan Warsofsky, Tyler Toffoli, and Alex Wennberg gave him on the day of the trade:

They just wanted to give me a little room, space.

That’s one of the toughest days of my life, I would say. And that’s a privilege. But it was, for sure. He’s family for me, his family is my family.

We hang out. We have Christmas together. Message was, just a little space, just be a human for a while. And come back and play.

Eklund, on never experiencing anything like this on previous teams:

For sure. But I’m not gonna say I have it tough. We have a lot of other things in the world that’s tougher than this.

But this was one of the toughest moments for me, personally. Losing a family member, you feel like, just for a little while, until the summer. It’s tough, but gotta move on here and get better for tomorrow.

Eklund, on his takeaway from this Trade Deadline:

Anything can happen.

Eklund, on Zetterlund’s reaction to the trade:

I think that’s something for him to say. I don’t think that’s for media either. It’s something that you’re gonna have to ask him some time, what he thinks about it.

Eklund, on what Zetterlund meant to the team:

Everybody loved him. A great guy to all the teammates, all the coaches, all the staff, everybody around the team. Looks like you guys too. He was always a great guy, I know that. That’s who he is.

Eklund, on if he’s ready to take on a greater leadership role on the San Jose Sharks:

Yeah, for sure. I think my game is going that direction too. Going to be more vocal and I’m more experienced now too.

Obviously, my second year, and a lot of young guys coming up here, I’m just trying to be a good example. That’s me working hard everyday, being more vocal in the room, and is trying to be my best version.

Eklund, on he and Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini and the other U-23 players being the core of the team now:

We have to be, and we want that. We’re gonna embrace that.

Obviously, that’s a privilege to be that. Play the best league in the world, and you gotta be thankful for that. But also, not just thankful.

You gotta be, I’m not going to swear, but ready to go. You gotta be ready every night, and you gotta be able…we want to win here. We’re not going to go here and go out and just be like we’ve done in the past. We’re gonna go win now, it’s time for that.