Update On William Eklund

The Senators’ injury scares continue to spook them.

Although Linus Ullmark returned after his injury scare against the Boston Bruins, Ottawa now has another player to be concerned about. William Eklund, while no update has been provided by the Senators, was hurt in the team’s 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. At the midway point of the first period, Eklund was chasing the puck as it trickled into the Flyers’ nearside cornerboards, where he met with defenseman Simon Benoit. Benoit’s shoulder forced a body check towards Eklund, locking his left foot in a very awkward position as the two collided into the corner. Eklund went down visibly in pain from the collision and, as a result, left the game, registering a team low 1:24 TOI.

According to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen, we should expect to hear that Eklund will undergo further testing for what he says is a ‘left ankle’ injury.

The Senators, if without Eklund for the foreseeable future, will miss a key addition made to their offense over this summer to supplement the loss of Brady Tkachuk. While not up to the physical presence that Brady provides, Eklund is a creative and elusive offensive winger who was highlighted as someone who could open up scoring options for the Senators this season, especially within their top-six forward group. He was on the first line alongside Tim Stutzle and Drake Batherson before the injury, all of whom have registered a positive net rating and goals for percentage to start this season.

At 23 years of age, throughout the past three seasons in San Jose, Eklund scored 48 goals and 156 points in 235 games, averaging 18:55 of ice time per game. In four games with Ottawa so far this season, he has registered a goal and an assist while playing as high as 20 minutes on ice. He was originally selected 7th overall by the Sharks in the 2021 NHL Draft out of Sweden.

Additionally, in dealing away the No. 9 pick in 2026 (which San Jose used to select defenseman Keaton Verhoeff), he’s signed at a more-than-manageable cap hit. Thanks to an extension last summer, Ottawa has Eklund on its books through the 2028-29 season at a $5.6MM cap hit.

The Senators find themselves atop the Atlantic Division early on this season, tied with Tampa at a 3-1-0 record for six points. That has come with a few bumps early on for these Sens. They currently have forwards Andre Burakovsky, Kurtis MacDermid, and defenseman Artem Zub all on injured reserve and have not seen too much of defensive star Jake Sanderson, who has been in and out with ‘therapy days’, having played just under five minutes against the Toronto Maple Leafs, his only regular-season appearance to date.