What’s Special About Eklund, Thrun’s Mental Makeup?

Not every young player is cut out to play for these San Jose Sharks.

It’s a lot more losing than winning. A lot more feeling bad than good.

For a youngster, playing on a 12-31-4 team is not an easy path to improvement.

You’ve got to focus on more positive than negative. You’ve got to focus more on forward than backwards.

So it’s striking when a pair of San Jose Sharks prospects, both with options i.e. they can be sent down to the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda without the risk of losing them on waivers, stick with the big club, through poorer than richer.

Of course, 2021 seventh-overall pick William Eklund and ex-Harvard captain Henry Thrun have plenty of talent. But they’ve got something else too, according to head coach David Quinn.

“They don’t let their failures at this level get in the way of their development.”

It’s a mental make-up thing, it’s a fortitude that some players have, some players develop over time, and some never have.

Case in point, Eklund two weeks ago in Montreal.

It was an awful first period from the slick winger, lowlighted by an egregious giveaway and an inability to advance the puck forward in multiple instances.

“He was terrible,” an NHL source told San Jose Hockey Now about the 21-year-old winger’s opening frame in the San Jose Sharks’ eventual 3-2 victory.

Read the Full Article at NBC Sports Bay Area