William Eklund is headed to the Ottawa Senators in a trade that sends the 2026 ninth-overall pick to the San Jose Sharks, along with forward prospects Kasper Halttunen and Brandon Svoboda. The move gives Ottawa a 23-year-old Stockholm native with 253 career NHL games already on his resume.
Sharks Send Eklund To Ottawa
The Senators are paying a steep price for the winger. Eklund scored 15 goals and finished with 53 points in 78 games last season with San Jose, and he has 50 goals and 163 points in 253 career NHL games.
He was the seventh-overall pick by San Jose in 2021, so Ottawa is adding a player who has already established an NHL scoring track rather than waiting for a prospect to develop. That makes the return more immediate for the Senators and strips the Sharks of a young roster piece they drafted in the top 10.
Halttunen And Svoboda
Kasper Halttunen and Brandon Svoboda go the other way with the pick. Halttunen was drafted 36th overall in 2023 and scored 16 goals with 35 points in 69 games with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda in 2025-26.
Svoboda completed his second season in the NCAA with Boston University in 2025-26, finishing with six goals and 15 points in 35 games. He was selected 71st overall by San Jose in 2023, giving the Sharks two more young forwards to work with after moving Eklund.
The Senators' Pick Chain
The draft choice heading back to San Jose carries an extra layer. The Senators had acquired the ninth-overall selection on Sunday in the deal that sent captain Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers, then turned around and used it to land Eklund and the two prospects.
That sequence leaves Ottawa with a major roster addition and a fresh draft board decision already settled before the 2026 NHL Draft. For the Sharks, the move converts one established NHL winger and two prospects into a premium pick and a cleaner asset base.
