Sharks Forward Struggling With Teammates Departure

The San Jose Sharks consider forward William Eklund a core piece of their organization. The 22-year-old is in his second full season in the NHL and just reached his 100th career point.

Which is why the Sharks have been understanding and patient with Eklund in the days since this year's NHL Trade Deadline. He declined to speak with the media the weekend immediately following and it became clear that was due to team trading forward Fabian Zetterlund. The organization made a surprising move when they sent the scoring winger to the Ottawa Senators, and it's affected Eklund greatly.

He spoke to the media for the first time and struggled to talk about the friendship he and Zetterlund have. What he communicated clearly was that he considers his former teammate to be family and understands the impact it's had on his early NHL career.

"He’s family for me," he said. "He is my family. We hang out, we had Christmas day together."

Max Miller of Sharks Hockey Digest captured some of Eklund's words in a recent article. Something that stuck out was the support the Sharks organization has given him since the trade.

"They just wanted to give me a little space," Eklund said. "One of the toughest days in my life, I would say... The message was just a little space. Be a human for a while, and then come back and play."

With less than 20 games to go, the Sharks hope he's taken that bit of needed space. The team is building toward the future despite being out of the playoff picture. Eklund is a key part of their core and future plans, making his success on the ice paramount. Dealing with the difficult realities that the NHL business comes with is part of succeeding, and the Sharks and Eklund are getting a first-hand case in that lesson.