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William Eklund

Pacific Notes: Doughty, Sharks Injuries, Flames Injuries

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There’s been plenty of fallout in Los Angeles after the announcement that Kings’ defenseman Drew Doughty would be out for a few months after undergoing surgery to repair his fractured ankle. Dennis Bernstein of The Fourth Period reported on plenty of it with the most important piece being that the Kings don’t have a timeline on Doughty’s return but it will not be a season-ending injury.

Los Angeles is going through a major change particularly on the right side of their defense with Doughty’s injury and defenseman Matt Roy leaving via unrestricted free agency to join the Washington Capitals. Bernstein shares that prospect Brandt Clarke is ’ready’ to take on a top-four role with the Kings this season but he will have to earn it according to head coach Jim Hiller.

Clarke only has 25 NHL games up to this point in his career and will now take a major step forward in his development to helping out a hopeful playoff contender on the blue line. He’s coming off an impressive season with Los Angeles’ AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, scoring 10 goals and 46 points in 50 contests during the 2023-24 AHL season.

Other Pacific notes:

  • The San Jose Sharks are dealing with a few minor injuries in training camp and their status is up in the air for the Sharks next preseason game against the Utah Hockey Club on Tuesday. Curtis Pashelka of Bay Area News Group reports William Eklund, Mikael Granlund, and Matt Benning are all listed as day-to-day with various ailments. There is no concern at this point that any of the three are questionable for opening night but it will be worth monitoring heading into next week.
  • Another team in the Pacific Division dealing with numerous minor injuries is the Calgary Flames. The team announced their injury designations earlier today with Jake Bean, Matthew Coronato, and Martin Pospisil all missing practice with lower-body injuries. Similarly to the Sharks, there shouldn’t be any long-term concerns for any of the players but their availability will be questionable tomorrow night as the Flames take on the Vancouver Canucks.

West Notes: Predators, Wild, Kunin, Eklund

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With the Predators hanging around the playoff race, it’s unlikely they’ll be significant buyers or sellers by Friday’s trade deadline.  However, that doesn’t mean they won’t be active on the trade front.  Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek reports that the team has made it known that they’re open to weaponizing their cap space – more than $37MM available on deadline day, per CapFriendly – to add assets.  That could come in the form of being a third-party retainer although they only have one retention slot left.  Alternatively, they could take on an undesirable contract or two while adding future assets in return for taking those on.  If they’re willing to do so, GM Barry Trotz will undoubtedly have some teams calling him to see what the price of that might be.

More from the Western Conference:

  • The Wild were without a pair of wingers for their game tonight against San Jose. The team announced (Twitter link) that Mats Zuccarello was out for personal reasons.  The 36-year-old is hovering near the point-per-game mark this year with 50 points in his first 52 appearances.  Meanwhile, NHL.com’s Jessi Pierce adds (Twitter link) that winger Marcus Johansson is dealing with a lower-body injury that kept him out of the lineup.  Johansson isn’t producing at the rate he was down the stretch last season but still has 27 points in 61 games.
  • Sharks forward Luke Kunin has been speculated as a possible trade candidate before Friday’s deadline. However, he told San Jose Hockey Now’s Josh Frojelin that he’s hoping to stay with the team although he acknowledged there haven’t been any discussions about an extension so far.  It has been a rough year for the 26-year-old who has just eight goals and four assists in 54 games.  Owed a $3MM qualifying offer, he currently profiles as a possible non-tender candidate in June.
  • Still with the Sharks, they announced (Twitter link) that forward William Eklund was scratched from tonight’s game due to illness. The 21-year-old is in his first full season at the NHL level and has fared relatively well, all things considered.  Eklund has 10 goals and 17 assists through 59 games so far and while those numbers don’t jump off the board, they’re good for third on San Jose in scoring.

Morning Notes: Eklund, Connor, Hutton

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Top San Jose Sharks youngster William Eklund was held out of the team’s Sunday night shootout-loss versus the Vegas Golden Knights with a lower-body injury. No further update was provided about the 21-year-old’s injury.

Eklund narrowly avoids the ‘rookie’ title this season, as playing more than six games in each of the last two seasons removes his eligibility. Regardless, he’s performed well for the Sharks this season, netting six goals and 13 points in 27 games. Four of these points have come in just his last two games – both overtime wins. The 21-year-old has managed this production while serving in a second-line role on the resurging Sharks. Eklund would be tied for seventh in rookie scoring with Philadelphia’s Bobby Brink, if he were eligible.

Eklund has totaled 44 career NHL games since making his debut in 2021-22. He’s managed eight goals, 20 points, and 20 penalty minutes in that span, also recording a career -16. The Sharks drafted Eklund seventh overall in the 2021 NHL Draft,

 

Other notes from around the league:

William Eklund Undergoes Surgery To Repair Torn Labrum

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The San Jose Sharks have announced that 2021 seventh-overall pick and team top prospect William Eklund underwent successful shoulder surgery yesterday to repair a torn labrum.

No other details, such as a recovery timeline, were included in the announcement, but since the timeline for torn labrums in the past has been in the four-to-six-month range, Eklund’s season is unfortunately over. The Athletic’s Corey Masisiak does note, though, that the Sharks expect Eklund to be ready for training camp in the fall.

This injury ends what has been an important season for Eklund. As mentioned in our piece covering his recall earlier this month, Eklund has taken significant strides in his development this season.

Last season playing in Sweden Eklund often looked deferential with the puck on his stick, and finished with just one goal to his name. This season, though, he has revamped his toolkit as a shooting threat and made himself a one-timer option on the San Jose Barracuda’s powerplay.

In his debut season on North American ice Eklund finishes with 17 goals and 41 points in 54 games, as well as three points in eight NHL games, including an impressive first NHL goal.

Eklund’s abilities as an attacker in transition have made him the Sharks’ top prospect, and his development is crucially important to the future of the Sharks organization.

While this injury is certainly a setback, at the very least the Sharks can be thankful that the bulk of Eklund’s recovery process will take place in the offseason, meaning his 2022-23 season has been left largely unaffected.

The loss of Eklund for the rest of the season comes as a major blow to the Barracuda, who need to win most of their remaining games to make the Calder Cup Playoffs. While it’s not impossible that they find a way to get those wins, the loss of their second-highest scorer will make winning most of their final set of games a significantly taller task.

But for the Sharks organization as a whole, getting Eklund back to full health is likely a far more pressing priority than the rest of what has been a disappointing AHL campaign.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

San Jose Sharks Reassign William Eklund, Recall Andrew Agozzino

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The San Jose Sharks have officially sent top prospect William Eklund back to the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda, recalling forward Andrew Agozzino in his place, per a team tweet today.

The move comes after Eklund skated in eight games this month on his first call-up of the year, recording two goals and an assist. Sending Eklund back to the minors before he plays his 10th game this year will once again defer the start of his entry-level contract to next season, the last time San Jose is eligible to make such a maneuver with him.

Drafted seventh overall in 2021, Eklund’s yet to see extended time in the NHL, but a move to North America this season has proved fruitful after spending 2021-22 in Sweden. In his first season in the AHL with the Barracuda, he’s cemented himself as one of the team’s best players with 17 goals and 41 points in 52 games.

San Jose certainly got the most out of Eklund during his call-up, routinely deploying him over 20 minutes per game. With that sort of production in the minors at age 20, Eklund could very well cement his place on the Sharks full-time next year.

The only player with more points on the Barracuda than Eklund is Agozzino, who gets his first recall to the NHL after signing with the Sharks last offseason. The 32-year-old minor-league veteran has 52 points in 55 games with the Barracuda this year and is nearing 50 games of NHL experience.

San Jose Sharks Recall William Eklund

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The San Jose Sharks top prospect, William Eklund, is set to return to the NHL. After getting a nine-game trial run last season before heading to play for Djurgardens in his native Sweden, the Sharks have put Eklund in a position to get more NHL games under his belt, recalling him from their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda.

While Eklund’s performance last season for Djurgarden was somewhat uneven (he scored 14 points in 29 games as his side was relegated to Sweden’s second-tier league, HockeyAllsvenskan) he has taken real strides in his development now that he’s on North American ice. Eklund has been a centerpiece offensive generator for the Barracuda, and has scored 17 goals and 41 points in 52 games.

Eklund is a smooth-skating attacker whose play in Sweden last year raised some concerns about his goal-scoring ability, as he often looked deferential with the puck on his stick and finished with just one goal to his name. This season, though, Eklund has taken a meaningful step to add more of a shooting threat to his game and become a real one-timer possibility on the power play.

He’s an exciting attacker in transition and should add some offensive spark to the Sharks lineup. While the Sharks’ season is all but over where the playoffs are concerned, getting a look at Eklund’s progress via this call-up provides some real meaning to the remaining games left on the Sharks’ schedule.

If the Sharks organization wants its fortunes to turn around sooner, rather than later, Eklund’s ability to translate his scoring success in the AHL to the more difficult NHL level will be one of the most important storylines to track.

Eklund has all the tools to be a star scoring winger in the NHL, and his AHL performance this year absolutely supports that line of thinking. With this call-up, now Eklund will get his first extended chance to show what the can do in the most talented hockey league in the world.

Preseason Notes: Pastrnak, Eklund, Canucks Centers

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One of the biggest stories that could play out this upcoming season is the contract situation between the Boston Bruins and their star goal-scoring winger, David Pastrnak. Pastrnak, a Rocket Richard trophy winner, will play the 2022-23 season on the final year of his $6.66MM AAV deal, and is undoubtedly in line to receive a significant raise on his next contract. He will be eligible for  unrestricted free agency at the end of this season, which has led many to speculate that he could leave Boston in a similar fashion to the way other star wingers, such as Johnny Gaudreau and Artemi Panarin, have left their teams as free agents.

According to Pastrnak, though, that’s not the ideal way for things to turn out. When asked today whether he was optimistic about an extension being finalized with the Bruins, Pastrnak answered yes, and added that he is “extremely happy” in Boston and that it’s an “honor” to wear the Bruins’ sweater. For the Bruins, getting Pastrnak signed to an extension has to be their number-one off-ice priority for next season. Pastrnak has scored at or above a point-per-game rate for the past four seasons and at 26 years old should have many prime years ahead of him. If the Bruins want to have any hope of remaining competitive in the next several years, they’ll need to find a way to keep Pastrnak around.

Now, for some other notes about preseason rumblings:

  • 2021 seventh-overall pick William Eklund spent most of last season playing in the SHL, but that won’t be where he’s playing in 2022-23. As relayed by Corey Masisiak of The Athletic, Eklund has said that he is “definitely” staying in North America and will either play for the Sharks in the NHL or the San Jose Barracuda in the AHL, wherever the organization deems he should be. Eklund endured a difficult campaign last year as his SHL club, Djurgardens, was relegated to the Allsvenskan. His choice to make the transition to North American hockey is wise, as he’ll have the chance to continue his development under the watchful eye of the Sharks’ development staff.
  • The Vancouver Canucks made headlines when they signed center J.T. Miller to a long-term extension, and the deal left many wondering if Elias Pettersson’s future was on the wing, since it was presumed that the Canucks would opt to keep Miller and Bo Horvat as centers. While that was a reasonable thing to wonder, it seems that the Canucks are planning to play Pettersson as a center for next season. Per Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre, Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau plans on deploying Miller, Horvat, and Pettersson as centers, believing that he is able to do so thanks to the team’s “upgraded top-nine.” Pettersson’s last two seasons have been rockier than he’d likely have hoped, so the Canucks are seemingly hoping that allowing Pettersson to center and drive his own line will help stabilize his game.

William Eklund To Play In Swedish Junior Playoffs

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When the season came to an end recently for Djurgardens SHL squad, many San Jose Sharks fans wondered if William Eklund would be on his way back to North America to play in a handful of games down the stretch. Not so fast, as instead, Eklund is set to join the junior Djurgardens team to help them try and win a U20 championship according to hockeysverige.se.

The squad will take on Rogle in the semi-finals on Saturday, and have a huge boost with the 19-year-old forward joining up. Eklund, who was selected seventh overall by the Sharks in 2021, showed early on that he could likely handle himself at the NHL level right away. In nine games with the Sharks he managed four assists and was arguably the team’s most dynamic offensive presence early on. After those nine games and before the first year of his entry-level contract was burned, San Jose loaned him back to Sweden where things haven’t gone quite as well.

In 29 games with the senior club, Eklund managed to score just a single goal and register 14 points. That’s after tallying 11 goals and 23 points in 40 games at the same level last season, numbers that drove him up draft boards and into the international hockey spotlight.

Notably, if Eklund returned and played even one more game for the Sharks, his contract would kick in, making him a restricted free agent in 2024. If he doesn’t play again for the Sharks this season, that deal will slide forward, buying the team another year of entry-level control. Importantly though that isn’t the case for the AHL; if Eklund joined the San Jose Barracuda for the stretch run, his contract status would not change.

Unfortunately, it’s not like there’s much to play for down on the farm. The Barracuda are in dead last in the entire AHL with a 20-36-5 record and have just seven games remaining in the regular season. Given that the Sharks are also not in a playoff race, giving Eklund the chance to lead his old junior team to a championship seems like the better move, at least in development terms.

Sweden, Finland Announce Preliminary WJC Rosters

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The 2022 World Junior Championship is right around the corner, set to kick off on December 26 in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta. For the U.S. and Canada, selection camps over the next few weeks will pare down rosters to the eventual 25 names that will take part in the tournament. For Finland and Sweden, many of those decisions have already been made. The two hockey powerhouses released their rosters today, though there could still be some slight changes if someone like Alexander Holtz becomes available.

Finland:

G Leevi Merilainen (OTT)
G Joel Blomqvist (PIT)
G Juha Jatkola (undrafted)

D Ruben Rafkin (undrafted)
D Ville Ottavainen (SEA)
D Eemil Viro (DET)
D Topi Niemela (TOR)
D Kasper Puutio (FLA)
D Petteri Nurmi (undrafted)
D Aleksi Heimosalmi (CAR)
D Rami Maatta (undrafted)

F Roby Jarventie (OTT)
F Juuso Maenpaa (undrafted)
F Samuel Helenius (LAK)
F Roni Hirvonen (TOR)
F Kalle Vaisanen (NYR)
F Ville Koivunen (CAR)
F Oliver Kapanen (MTL)
F Sami Paivarinta (undrafted)
F Kasper Simontaival (LAK)
F Joel Maatta (undrafted)
F Brad Lambert (2022 draft eligible)
F Aatu Raty (NYI)
F Olli Nikupeteri (undrafted)
F Joakim Kemell (2022 draft eligible)

Sweden:

G Jesper Wallstedt (MIN)
G Calle Clang (PIT)
G Jesper Vikman (VGK)

D Helge Grans (LAK)
D Emil Andrae (PHI)
D Anton Olsson (NSH)
D Mans Forsfjall (undrafted)
D Simon Edvinsson (DET)
D Leo Loof (STL)
D Victor Sjoholm (undrafted)
D Joel Nystrom (CAR)

F Daniel Ljungman (DAL)
F Fabian Lysell (BOS)
F Ake Stakkestad (undrafted)
F William Eklund (SJS)
F Zion Nybeck (CAR)
F Elias Stenman (undrafted)
F Albert Sjoberg (DAL)
F Oskar Olausson (COL)
F Isak Rosen (BUF)
F Elliot Ekmark (FLA)
F Theodor Niederbach (DET)
F Oskar Magnusson (WSH)
F Daniel Torgersson (WPG)

San Jose Sharks Loan William Eklund To SHL

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The San Jose Sharks gave William Eklund a taste of the NHL, but the young forward will have to wait for his next chance. The Sharks have loaned Eklund back to Djurgardens IF of the SHL. Had Eklund played one more game with the Sharks this season, he would have burned the first year of his entry-level contract. As it stands, the deal will slide forward a year and not expire until 2025. GM Doug Wilson explained the move:

This was one of the toughest decisions we have had to make. William’s tremendous skill and vision have been evident since his participation in our rookie tournament in September. In his nine NHL games as a teenager, he has shown that he is going to be a special player in this league but ultimately, we feel it is in the best interest of his long-term development to return to Sweden and continue to work on becoming the dominant player we know he can be.

Eklund, 18, is technically eligible to be assigned to the AHL as well but holds a European Assignment Clause in his contract that could force his way back to Europe if the Sharks attempted that. Instead, the seventh-overall pick will continue his development in Sweden where he had 23 points in 40 games for Djurgadens last season. This is also huge news for his country’s World Junior team, who will presumably have the reigning SHL Rookie of the Year/Swedish Junior Hockey Player of the Year in the lineup when the tournament begins in December.

The Sharks were happy to hand regular minutes to Eklund, who averaged over 14 minutes of ice time in those first nine games. He managed four assists in that time but failed to score his first NHL goal, despite some dangerous opportunities. The young forward certainly won’t have a problem registering that goal when he finally returns, as his offensive upside is clearly tremendous. A year of development playing in a professional league in Sweden should only help his development, and give the Sharks a more polished product to insert into the lineup next season should they choose to do so.

For San Jose, the key decision here is his contract status. It appears as though they may be more competitive this year, but challenging for the Stanley Cup will be difficult. If Eklund wasn’t going to play a key role all year, wasting a year of his entry-level deal would be a mistake in a cap-constrained league in which inexpensive deals are king. If he returns full-time next season at an even higher level, the team will be able to squeeze more surplus value out of a cap hit that will still be lower than $1MM.

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