General Manager of the San Jose Sharks, Mike Grier, announced today William Eklund along with prospect Kasper Halttunen and the rights to Brandon Svoboda, have been traded to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for the 2026 NHL Draft’s ninth overall selection. As a result of the trade, the Sharks now are selecting second, ninth and 27th overall (thanks to a trade involving the 20th pick and Michael Kesselring) in this year’s draft. The Sharks were already a team with a large amount of potential, but these three first round selections can help skyrocket the club to the next level.
Dealing Eklund was not surprising, and it seems acquiring the ninth overall draft pick in exchange for him shows a certain level of commitment to drafting Ivar Stenberg second overall. Stenberg, future superstar out of the SHL, is an incredibly dynamic player with great skill and vision, and can play both sides of the wing, which would make Eklund’s role on the team redundant. Trading Eklund for a high draft pick, in addition to receiving Kesselring and the 27th pick helps give the Sharks opportunities to bolster defense, a problem well known to Sharks fans, while still allowing the opportunity to select the best player in this draft at second.
The acquisition of Kesselring helps give the Sharks young defensive core of Luca Cagnoni, Eric Pohlkamp and Sam Dickinson-all 22-years-old and under-a solid established defenseman to lean on for help and development. Additionally, this is an extremely defense-heavy draft, meaning there’s an abundance of high-quality defensemen that can be chosen both ninth and 27th overall.
Drafting Stenberg and acquiring the ninth and 27th overall picks as well as Michael Kesselring, is not only a push in the right direction for the Sharks, it could be what makes this team a formidable opponent and genuine playoff contender.
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