William Eklund’s time in San Jose is over, but the moments that made him a Sharks favorite are still easy to call up.
The winger was part of the package Mike Grier sent to the Ottawa Senators to land the ninth-overall pick, the selection that became Keaton Verhoeff in the 2026 Draft. Eklund went out with prospects Kasper Halttunen and Brandon Svoboda, a move that helped the Sharks address their biggest organizational hole on defense after a draft that drew rave grades ranging from A to A++. San Jose also made moves when free agency opened, and together those decisions effectively closed the book on the rebuild and pointed the franchise toward a future built to compete for a playoff spot in 2026-27.
Still, for Sharks fans, losing Eklund was not easy to swallow. He’s headed to Ottawa in black and red next season, but he leaves behind a run of plays that made him one of the most appreciated pieces of the team’s climb out of the abyss.
His first career goal came on March 14, 2023, against the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 6-5 overtime loss. Derrick Pouliot’s shot created the chance, and Eklund finished it from his knees with a backhand past Daniil Tarasov in the second period. It was a small bright spot in a season where San Jose won only 22 games, and it came after Eklund had been sent back to Sweden the year before following nine NHL games in which he had four assists.
The next season brought one of his most memorable nights. On December 5, 2023, the Sharks erased a three-goal third-period deficit to beat the New York Islanders 5-4 at UBS Arena.
Tomas Hertl had a hat trick, Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 35 shots, and Eklund finished the comeback with the overtime winner 4.3 seconds before a shootout. Mikael Granlund pushed the puck up from the defensive end, slid it behind him to Eklund, and Eklund hammered home a one-timer past Ilya Sorokin.
Then came his first career hat trick on April 6, 2024, against the St. Louis Blues at SAP Center.
Eklund scored all three goals in a 3-2 overtime win, and the hats that came raining onto the ice - baseball caps and the free straw hat giveaway - fit the moment perfectly. That game stood out because it came in one of the 18 wins the Sharks managed that season, a year that ended with San Jose as the NHL’s worst team before they drafted Macklin Celebrini first overall a month later.
Eklund also delivered the kind of highlight that sticks for years. On March 12, 2026, in Boston, the Sharks beat the Bruins 4-2, but the goal everyone remembered came from Eklund in the third period.
Sam Dickinson sent a cross-ice pass to the Swedish winger, who slipped behind Boston’s last line of defense. Eklund drove to the net, watched his first shot bounce off the goalie’s pads, then batted the puck out of the air and in top shelf while diving.
The NHL later named it the goal of the year in its Top 10 Goals of 2025-26.
His final entry on the list came on January 7, 2026, at Crypto.com Arena against the Los Angeles Kings. Celebrini’s late-game heroics drew most of the attention in the 4-3 overtime win, but Eklund finished the play that sealed it.
Celebrini forced a turnover from Alex Laferriere and turned it into a 2-on-1 rush, then recovered after the puck got stuck between the referee’s skates and slipped it to Eklund, who roofed the winner past Darcy Kuemper. NBC Sports California then cut to the suite where the Sharks’ fathers were gathered on the annual dad’s trip, celebrating along with the team.
Those are the kinds of moments that explain why Eklund became so popular in San Jose. He played with energy, kept a good attitude and worked like a player fans could trust, even when the on-ice product gave them very little to enjoy.
His departure, along with defenseman Mario Ferraro’s, leaves 23-year-old forward Collin Graf as the longest-tenured Sharks player. That’s the reality of the NHL, where teams sometimes have to move on from good players to fix bigger problems. In this case, San Jose paid a steep price, but one that helped solve its biggest weakness and marked the start of a new era after a long stretch of darkness.
In Other News...
John Klingbergs Next Move Could Sting Sharks Fans
John Klingbergs run in San Jose appears to have put him back on the board as a legitimate free-agent option, and that alone makes this a notable summer development for Sharks fans. After a solid season in teal, the veteran defenseman is now free to choose his next stop, with his market shaped by both his production and the kind of role he still wants at this stage of his career.
The tricky part for San Jose is that the interest around Klingberg does not sound like it will be limited to one type of team. Clubs with different timelines and different cap situations are all in the mix, which means the Sharks could be watching a player they just had settle into a new home move on again before long. What he values most in his next contract will go a long way toward determining whether San Jose gets another year of stability from him or has to start over on the blue line. [Read more 🡒]
Sharks Just Made Macklin Celebrini Their Franchise Cornerstone
Macklin Celebrinis new five-year extension gives the Sharks exactly what every rebuilding team wants most: a clear face of the franchise, and one they can build around for the immediate future. At $94 million, the deal also resets the market in a way that reflects just how quickly Celebrini has become central to San Joses plans, putting him atop the NHLs salary ladder on an annual basis.
The shorter term is what makes the contract especially interesting for the Sharks. Five years is a meaningful commitment, but it also leaves the door open to another major negotiation before too long, which means San Jose gets the comfort of locking in its cornerstone without fully answering the longer-range question of how the relationship will look when this deal runs out. [Read more 🡒]
Another Young Star Just Framed Celebrini Like A Franchise Force
Macklin Celebrinis offseason work in Vancouver left a strong impression on Gavin McKenna, who came away talking about the Sharks center as more than just a rising star. McKenna praised Celebrinis intensity and competitiveness in their training sessions, saying the young San Jose cornerstone pushed him to improve both on the ice and in the day-to-day grind that comes with a serious summer workout.
For Sharks fans, it is another reminder that Celebrinis reputation is already stretching well beyond San Jose. McKenna even described one stretch of training as a marathon of ice time, and the kind of commitment he saw helps explain why Celebrini is being framed like a franchise force before he has even settled into the next phase of his career. [Read more 🡒]