Confirmed Trade: [OTT/SJS] William Eklund, Kasper Halttunen, Brandon Svoboda for 2026 FLA 1st round pick (9th overall)

[zombie kopitar]

Just watched some Eklund highlights and am highly impressed. No reason why he can't be a PPG+ player

Wouldn't bet on that, maybe for like one season if his line gets hot.

Eklund is a text book quality 2nd liner who's a bit undersized and shaky on defense, but will always hustle. just expect that.

 

[SwedishFire]

That's a nice trade. San Jose can pick a defenseman without needing to reach for one at 2. And Eklund is awesome and fits perfectly in Ottawa's age range. Very tidy to get a new 1LW that quickly.

Isnt all D gone at 9? Its Reid, Carels, Verhoeff, Smits. And thats that. They will be gone at 9.

 

[Karelia Hurricanes]

Isnt all D gone at 9? Its Reid, Carels, Verhoeff, Smits. And thats that. They will be gone at 9.

Rudolph.

 

[Grinner]

Debrusk + 3oa for 2oa

Sharks replaces Eklunds goals with debrusk and still draft their dman at 3oa and whoever they want at 9oa

Dream on

 

[coooldude]

Rudolph.

Or Gustafsson.

 

[Surfer Dude]

Have different take to add on Eklund. He's great on D and the main puck transporter after Celebrini who generated chances for his line. Hitting 60+ pts isn't that crazy imo. At the start of the year, he was arguably 2nd best Sharks player after Celly before injury. He didn't really get PP1 or played much with Celebrini, mainly bec his shot isn't great. He never had a great shot before but the wrist injury last summer didn't help and if he works on his shot, not just speed but deception, his scoring could be 20+ goals as a 2nd line winger who can drive the line. Also, he might be able to fix Zetterlund as they are BFF and played well together.

On Halts, he was developing his B game in AHL imo adding physicality to his game. He can score with his shot, especially on PP in Ovi's office or poor man Frondell with shots only. The key is his skating but I don't think they are so bad that he's unplayable in NHL. They had Regenda who skated worse at older age who was still borderline NHL guy by comparison. He's such a young 21 still that he can still improve his skating and be a useful player. Some ppl ranked him in the bottom top 10 of a stacked Sharks prospect pool which is pretty good and around where Ostaphchuk level of prospect were ranked iirc. Maybe lower floor but also has some ceiling with his size and shot. He could be a 2nd or 3rd round value in trade perhaps... so it's def not nothing imo.

Svoboda is interesting. Kid has scored big goals but he's always been and put in bottom 6 roles in NCAA. He's seems to have stagnated but he's never a guy that can be measured with just scoring. Not a bad throw in.

 

[LickTheEnvelope]

Im so lost on San Jose's picks now lol.

 

[fbuford]

Isnt all D gone at 9? Its Reid, Carels, Verhoeff, Smits. And thats that. They will be gone at 9.

Top 9 in no particular order:

FWD: Stenberg
FWD: Malhotra
FWD: McKenna
D: Reid
D: Carels
D: Verhoeff
D: Smits
D: Gustafsson
D: Rudolph

Stenberg, McKenna, and, Malhotra are locks to go in the top 8.
The Sharks are guaranteed one of these D.

 

[coooldude]

Top 9 in no particular order:

FWD: Stenberg
FWD: Malhotra
FWD: McKenna
D: Reid
D: Carels
D: Verhoeff
D: Smits
D: Gustafsson
D: Rudolph

Stenberg, McKenna, and, Malhotra are locks to go in the top 8.
The Sharks are guaranteed one of these D.

Bjorck is likely to go to someone. So either Sharks get a choice of 2 of the top 6D, or they trade up for the one they want.

 

[Divine]

Eklund is a solid defensive winger but asking him to lead a shutdown line with Wennberg and some other winger that isn't defensively sound was going to make his numbers look bad but they did pretty well in front of a blue line that had very little talent and shaky goaltending. I think he'll do fine in Ottawa but he might not be a top line two-way winger like they probably expect Stenberg to be.

The guy was a team worst -31 last season, following a league worst -45 in 2023-2024.

If he's a solid defensive winger, so is every other winger in the NHL. He's been a minus player basically every year, in every league he's played in.

 

[Grinner]

The guy was a team worst -31 last season, following a league worst -45 in 2023-2024.

If he's a solid defensive winger, so is every other winger in the NHL. He's been a minus player basically every year, in every league he's played in.

Jeez. Look at some of the teams the Sharks iced in thst time.

 

[Divine]

Jeez. Look at some of the teams the Sharks iced in thst time.

Yeah, and he was the worst for multiple seasons.

 

[dmcccdmn]

Nuts! Went to ask AI what kind of pick Sharks could get for trading Eklund. AI responded 9OA. Thought it was oddly specific. Went to HF and in for a shocker.

Vancouver and Chicago alarms must have gone off after this trade. If they had hoped Stenberg would be skipped over and call Grier's bluff, Grier is almost certainly drafting Stenberg now. Vancouver would need to pay a pretty penny if they really want Stenberg now. It wouldn't surprise me if it happens.

Sharks fans before the lottery: "Hope we get Rudolph, etc."
Sharks fans after the lottery: "Sorry Rudolph, etc. Hello Reid!"
Sharks fans after this trade: "Welcome back Rudolph, etc."

There's another possibility. #27 + #9 value wise would be equivalent to #5. Grier could trade up and grab Smit at #5 to go with Stenberg at #2. That would actually be the best draft for San Jose.

I can't wait to see what Celebrini would be like with a real Winger like Stenberg. I can't wait to see what Stenberg would be like with Celebrini.

 

[Divine]

He was below 50th percentile in defense this year, so below league average. Last year, when he was -7 and not a team worst or league worst +/- was accordingly his best year defensively.

2 of his 3 seasons (including last year) have been below league average defensively.

 

[Bizz]

Top 9 in no particular order:

FWD: Stenberg
FWD: Malhotra
FWD: McKenna
D: Reid
D: Carels
D: Verhoeff
D: Smits
D: Gustafsson
D: Rudolph

Stenberg, McKenna, and, Malhotra are locks to go in the top 8.
The Sharks are guaranteed one of these D.

Rudolph sucks and Gustafsson isn't good value at 9. The Sharks need someone who will eventually become a top pairing D so it's Reid, Carels, Smits, and maybe Verhoff or bust.

 

[wunderpanda]

Isnt all D gone at 9? Its Reid, Carels, Verhoeff, Smits. And thats that. They will be gone at 9.

9 could be used on hamilton, nurse or reilly, sharks may even get something extra if teams need the cap space more than a player.

 

[Bizz]

nurse or reilly

we're not trading 9th OA for negative value assets.

 

[KevinRedkey]

we're not trading 9th OA for negative value assets.

If I were SJS, I'd go after Hronek with 9th, 27th, and a sweetener.

 

[Bizz]

If I were SJS, I'd go after Hronek with 9th, 27th, and a sweetener.

I've been told that's not gonna be enough for Hronek.

 

[KevinRedkey]

I've been told that's not gonna be enough for Hronek.

The Sweetener might have to be someone like Ravensbergen, Wang, McKinney, Sahlin-Wallenius, Musty, or Lund (IDK their exact values and Vancouver may have a preference). I'm not entirely sure but I believe you're in the ballpark because the Dobson trade is the comparable, and 9+27+name above would be slightly more than what he fetched.

Another option is just sign Carlson for 2yrs. You can afford it for now and he'll fall off before you get in to cap hell.

 

[wunderpanda]

we're not trading 9th OA for negative value assets.

would they be negatives or upgrades for the sharks next season? 9th pick could take a few years, then the sharks have to spend money for a placeholder anyway.

 

[Bizz]

would they be negatives or upgrades for the sharks next season?

Nurse and Rielly have no place in the Sharks present or future being that both are on the wrong side of 30, grossly overpaid, and heavily declining.

You don't trade 9th overall picks for those kinds of players. You shouldn't even trade 9th ROUND picks for them.

 

[mattihp]

I guess Halttunen gave the Sharks Hannes Hyvönen flashbacks