SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Sharks traded forwards William Eklund, Kasper Halttunen and Brandon Svoboda on Tuesday to the Ottawa Senators for the ninth overall selection in this year’s draft. The Sharks now own the second, ninth, and 27th overall selections in the first round of the draft, which is being held on Friday in Buffalo, N.Y. The Senators just received the No. 9 pick from Florida ...

The San Jose Sharks' William Eklund during a news conference at Sharks Ice in San Jose, California, on April 18, 2026.

Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group/TNS

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Jose Sharks traded forwards William Eklund, Kasper Halttunen and Brandon Svoboda on Tuesday to the Ottawa Senators for the ninth overall selection in this year’s draft.

The Sharks now own the second, ninth, and 27th overall selections in the first round of the draft, which is being held on Friday in Buffalo, N.Y. The Senators just received the No. 9 pick from Florida on Sunday as part of the blockbuster deal that sent winger and U.S. Olympic gold medalist Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers.

The 23-year-old Eklund, who was drafted seventh overall by the Sharks in 2021, was fourth on the team in scoring this past season with 53 points in 78 games. During his Sharks career, Eklund had 163 points in 252 NHL games.

Eklund was just about to begin a three-year, $16.8 million contract extension he signed with the Sharks last July. The Sharks, per PuckPedia, now have over $46.1 million in cap space for this upcoming season and a total of eight picks in this week’s draft, including four in the first two rounds.

While giving up a top-six forward and power-play mainstay like Eklund, who averaged 18:32 in ice time last season, and two prospects, the trade gives general manager Mike Grier and the Sharks plenty of options going forward.

The Sharks can use the No. 2 selection on winger Ivar Stenberg or Gavin McKenna, considered the top two players available in this year’s draft, and also address an organizational need by drafting a defenseman at No. 9. While another team would have to knock Grier’s socks off to get the second overall selection, the Sharks, now flush with more cap space, could also trade the No. 9 pick to get a player, possibly a defenseman, for immediate help.

The Sharks have four defensemen who are pending unrestricted free agents. While there have been some discussions with Vincent Desharnais’ camp about a return to San Jose, the other defensemen, Mario Ferraro, John Klingberg and Nick Leddy, are expected to go to free agency, which begins on July 1.

Ferraro is the Sharks’ longest tenured player, having just finished his seventh season with the team. Despite his relatively young age, Eklund was the Sharks’ second-longest tenured player

Halttunen, who turned 21 on June 7, had 16 goals and 35 points for the Barracuda this past season in his first full year of professional hockey. The 6-foot-3 Halttunen, drafted 36th overall by the Sharks in 2023, has an NHL-caliber shot and had started to develop more of an all-around game at the AHL level, but was likely going to be a long shot to crack the Sharks’ roster out of this fall’s training camp.

Svoboda, 21, just finished his sophomore season at Boston University, where he had 15 points in 35 games. He also played for Team USA at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship, recording six points in seven games as the Americans won gold.

Eklund made some highlight-reel plays in his third full NHL season, but also had bouts of inconsistency. He finished with two fewer goals and five fewer points than he did during a breakout 2024-25 campaign when he was second in scoring among all Sharks players with 58 points. This season, Eklund, in 30 games from the second week of January to April 1, scored just one goal and recorded 14 assists, despite being sixth among all Sharks players in total power play time in that span.

The trade also reunites Eklund with good buddy and fellow Swedish-born forward Fabian Zetterlund, who was traded by the Sharks to the Senators in March 2025 as part of the deal that brought center Zack Ostapchuk to San Jose.

Eklund was upset by the trade at the time, saying he was tired of seeing the Sharks’ roster being continually stripped down. The Sharks finished the 2024-25 season with an NHL-worst 52 points, but with Eklund and the growth of Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, improved to 86 points and missed the playoffs by four points.

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