San Jose Sharks
Eklund, Sharks Hoping To Hammer Out Extension Before Start of Season
BUFFALO, N.Y. — San Jose Sharks GM Mike Grier and William Eklund’s agent Todd Diamond were seen meeting at the NHL Draft Combine this morning.
It’s San Jose Hockey Now’s understanding that Eklund’s contract situation was discussed. The 2021 No. 7 pick, coming off a career-high 58-point campaign, has another year left on his ELC. But he’s eligible for an extension this Jul. 1.
It sounds like both sides are motivated to get something done before the beginning of the season. While the parameters of a potential extension aren’t clear, it’s something that both sides want. The Sharks and Eklund have the option of putting off an extension until next summer, but this is a good sign of the two sides’ commitment to each other.
“William is happy in San Jose and excited for the future of the club,” Diamond said. “He got his cast off yesterday and is able to slowly start training for the 2025-26 season.”
William Eklund suffered a scary-looking wrist injury in early May, in a World Championships lead-up game. But he’s well on his way to a full recovery.
An extension should mean that Eklund is part of the San Jose Sharks’ next step, moving past the rebuild and out of the basement. The Sharks have been the worst team in the NHL in Eklund’s first two full seasons in the league, but between Eklund, Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, Shakir Mukhamadullin, Sam Dickinson, Yaroslav Askarov, and more exciting young players, San Jose should be playing more competitive hockey, and soon.
Eklund, a playmaking winger, set career highs with 17 goals, 41 assists, and 58 points this past season. Just 22, the crafty and competitive Eklund’s best years should be ahead of him. And it looks like, at least for the foreseeable future, that it’ll be with the San Jose Sharks.
Please just do the 8 years and not a bridge deal.
Agreed. There’s significant value in knowing the cost of a core piece for the next 7-8 years. It makes the picture clearer, which makes it much easier to responsibly add big pieces from the outside without potentially torpedoing future salary structure. Signing him to a bridge deal could set him up for a bigger payday at the exact same time that Smith and Celebrini are getting theirs, it’s a significant risk. I’d like to see a minimum of five years, preferably seven or eight.
Also if Grier can swing it, it would be ideal if any trade protection included in the extension doesn’t kick in until year two. Give the Sharks two more seasons to evaluate before the anchor drops.
That Coronato deal with the Flames is a strikingly good template and he only got a 10-team no-trade in the last two years of his 7-year deal.
A quick sampling of some others, doesn’t seem like NTC for guys on these deals kicking in early is much of a thing.
I admittedly don’t know how it works in real life, but in the NHL video game you can’t put trade/movement protections on players during their RFA seasons. Is that actually a thing in real life?
That appears to be correct.
Players can’t get NTC or NMC until they have played 7 seasons or are 27, so Sharks can’t give it to him for a while, even if they wanted to.
Yes, and also learn from Toronto’s mistake with Mitch Marner. Don’t give a RFA a full NMC. In fact, ideally, don’t give anybody a full NMC. Obviously, some players can demand it because of their market value. But long contract + NMC usually leads to regrets. We’ve already seen it here, too.
Sweet!
With Brock Nelson extending in Colorado, the top half of the free agency market is threatening to absolutely evaporate. If Ehler’s re-signs in Winnipeg (they tend to keep their own guys because they can’t attract outside UFAs), the market for legit top six forwards under 30 is Marner and Boeser. That’s a small meal for a very crowded and very hungry table. I think we’ll see Grier try to swing some real deal roster construction trades before July 1. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see an uptick in teams trading for negotiating rights for some of the more desirable… Read more »
Vibes seem to be that Ehlers is leaving.
There’s still Sam Bennet (my preference but an extreme long shot) and Pius Suter.
Both left shooting second line centers. I would prefer one of those two than Boeser.
Both defensively responsible 200 foot forwards with Bennet being more physical.
Both 28/29. Suter can be signed to a four year deal.
Boeser is a defensive liability. Not a good pair with Smith.
I hope they don’t get Bennet, for two reasons.
1. I think he’s such an important part of Florida’s identity. They could have a rivalry of dynasties with Edmonton for a few years.
2. I vaguely remember Bennet throwing a late hit on Simek, giving him a concussion and altering the trajectory of his career.
(God dam, Bennet scored a goal right as I was getting done typing… 😂)
And you were saying why the Sharks shouldn’t acquire him? Lol!
You learn to get over that stuff once they throw hits in a Sharks jersey.😉
I don’t really see Suter as a top six forward. He’s a middle six tweener, like a Roslovic or Frederic.
Point being, the desirable names are disappearing quickly and Grier needs to have a plan B if the UFA market yields less than expected.
His comments on not wanting to hand out long contracts suggests to me that the trade market is his plan A. Probably the right call but frustrating from an informational standpoint since there’s always a lot more ink spilt about potential FA pitches/landing spots whereas the details of potential trades (complete or fallen through) only seem to come out in a huge rush the day of.
Very true. I mean we talked upgrades on defense into the ground last summer/fall and I don’t think anyone had Jake Walman on their bingo card. The Ceci and Liljegren deals were telegraphed to an extent, and I guess Askarov, too — but for the most part we just have no insight.
Its not his preference, but he didnt say he wouldnt. He was referring to free agents, i assume theres a couple he would offer long term deals to if indeed got them to san jose. Also signing your RFA to a long term 7-8 years is ideal. This is someone you sign as long as you can.
What if McJesus wins the cup and decides he wants to finish his career in the California sun? Next year is his last year, that would be crazy if he became available and we have the chips that we have. It’s not out of the question.
We could probably get him for 2/20, too
It’s not super likely, but this is why I say fans shouldn’t demand Grier spend cap space first chance like he’s got money burning a hole through his pocket. People who want to spend money on Marner now might miss out on bidding for McDavid, maybe Auston Matthews 3 years from now when it may be time for this team to seriously contend.
I wish that were even possible… It’s been 6 years since Panarin and 7 since Tavares. These opportunities do not come along often. I’m curious what ends up getting done with Eklund. If it’s basically the same as Coronato, I can live with it and it should be tradeable for the next 4 years
Coronato is a comparable player, but he signed a 7 year deal. I don’t know Eklund wants to do that in a rising cap type of situation. The value may be similar but the contract may need to be structured differently if he wants to get to UFA sooner.
It’s completely up to him and that’s why it’s possible. Is there any escalators or whatever they call it if the oilers win the cup for the Walman trade ?
His favorite team growing up was Toronto.
There’s ZERO chance or a microscopic chance McDavid doesn’t sign with the Oilers even if they lose the final. They locked up Leon long term and the GM recently said McDavid is literally the most important person to the entire organization.
Yes. I figure it’s about 50-1 he leaves Edmonton. And then if you clear that hurdle he’s got to pick coming to the Sharks. It’s at least 1,000-1 overall that McDavid is playing for the Sharks in 26-27.
So you are saying there is a chance.
Next year also has Kaprizov, Kyle Connor, Jack Eichel all age 28, and word is that Martin Necas (age 26) didn’t love his time in Colorado.
None of those guys will make it to July 1 either. Next year’s crop is pretty barren too. The shallow pool combined with about $200M+ more that will be spent this offseason than previous years means the numbers guys get are going to be silly. If the cap keeps rising beyond year 3 of this cycle, though, these numbers will seem like steals 4 years from now. I agree there’s a chance the team strikes out completely in UFA. Luckily they have a lot of assets to acquire guys. And it’s even possible that Grier will prefer to trade for… Read more »
I actually think there’s a decent chance all of those four players hit the open market. Undoubtedly the Wild will do everything in their power to keep Kaprizov, but that team has been stranded in the mushy middle for years. With their cap hell behind them, that could change in a hurry, but opinions on Bill Guerin fluctuate pretty wildly and we have no idea what his relationship looks like with Kaprizov or his agent. Kyle Connor plays in Winnipeg, so they’ll back the money truck up to keep him, but we’re talking about an American kid who has spent… Read more »
Exactly – if Rossi gets dealt that pretty much guarantees Kaprizov re-signs, but that opens a different door. These are the guys I can really see being available – it’s why I didn’t waste my time listing potential retirees / guys likely to take vet min to chase another Cup like Ovi, Malkin, Kopitar. No one thought Marner would reach FA, this time last year it was Nylander being hung out to dry.
People thought Marner was going to stay with Toronto a year ago, too. You never know. You need to keep cap flexibility to jump on opportunities.
I think most of that was because Toronto media and their fans think all their players should take team friendly deals and live their dream of playing for the Leafs. Funny enough, that seems to be what Tavares wants to do this year, and if the rumors the Sharks wanted to pay him a lot more are true, he’s been doing it for the last 7.
Rumors are Kaprizov will stay with Minnesota with a fat contract.
But these are all good points. Free agency is a long game. If you lock somebody up to 7 years today, that AAV will restrict you next year, and the year after, and the year after…so on.
its absolutely out of the question, we just signed our biggest FA ever this last offseason. He is on the back 9 of his career.