In his media availability on Monday afternoon, Senators general manager Steve Staios indicated a desire to determine the value of the ninth overall pick he acquired in the Brady Tkachuk blockbuster.

Twenty-four hours later, he had his answer.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Senators announced that they had traded the ninth overall selection in the 2026 NHL Draft to the San Jose Sharks for William Eklund and prospects Kasper Haltunnen and Brandon Svoboda.

The 23-year-old Eklund is the obvious centrepiece of Ottawa’s return. The left winger, who turns 24 in October, was the seventh overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. He has played parts of five NHL seasons, but with the last three as a regular, recording 50 goals and 163 points in 252 career games.

Listed on the NHL website at 5’10” and 188 lbs, Eklund will never be mistaken for Tkachuk. The Swedish product isn’t exactly a burner, ranking in the 53rd percentile in max skating speed (22.31 mph) and 55th percentile in 22+ mph speed bursts according to his Edge data, but he does possess elusiveness through his edgework. It is a skill that creates separation and affords him the time and space to make plays.

Eklund’s best season came as a 22-year-old during the 2024-25 campaign when he tallied 17 goals and 58 points in 77 games. This past season, the winger recorded 15 goals and 53 points in 78 games.

Admittedly, it is always concerning when a young, rebuilding team is willing to move on from one of its young assets. Why would the Sharks not want to keep using Eklund as a young building block?

The answer is simple: with the Sharks possessing the second overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, this trade to procure the ninth overall selection ensures that San Jose will draft left winger Ivar Stenberg and then use that ninth overall selection to address their blue line, their biggest position of need.

At the time the Tkachuk trade was announced, there was some disappointment that the organization did not acquire a warm body that they could immediately pencil into the lineup. With Eklund, the organization added a player with NHL experience and pedigree who will play on one of the top two lines. It also helps that his age aligns with the rest of this team’s young core.

Eklund has three years left on a contract that carries an average annual value of $5.6 million. When his deal expires at the conclusion of the 2028-29 season, Eklund will still have one year of restricted free agent status left before he’s eligible for unrestricted free agency.

Although he has never cracked the 20-goal or 60-point marks, the Senators are obviously hoping that there is untapped upside in the Swedish forward with some room for growth. Intriguingly, despite playing on a porous San Jose team, Eklund has demonstrated some decent defensive metrics, which leads one to believe that the Senators’ structure could bring out the best in his two-way play.

The move is not without risk, however.

The gamble is that Eklund is more of a playmaker than a finisher, and after trading one of the best volume shooters in the league and one of their top goal scorers in Tkachuk, the Senators need someone to help fill the net. Eklund’s five-on-five production rates last season were also relatively unimpressive.

Of the 546 skaters who logged more than 600 minutes of five-on-five ice time, Brady Tkachuk finished 24th with 2.48 points per 60 minutes, and 99th with 0.88 goals per 60. Eklund finished tied for 178th with 1.67 points per 60 and 221st with 0.59 goals per 60.

According to Evolving-Hockey, Eklund played predominantly with Alex Wennberg and Tyler Toffoli, but he did spend some time playing in the top six with other line combinations. Similarly, he spent time between San Jose’s first and second power play units playing to little effect. Per Natural Stat Trick’s data, of the 117 skaters who logged more than 200 minutes on the power play, Eklund finished 96th, averaging 4.23 points per 60 and 101st, averaging 1.35 goals per 60.

Here is his analytical stat card via HockeyStats.com.

Those metrics leave something to be desired, but after hurting his wrist in an exhibition game leading up to the 2025 World Championships, Eklund’s offseason training was negatively impacted. The hope is that, with a healthy summer and playing within the Senators’ system in front of a blue line featuring several strong puckmovers, this new environment will allow Eklund to thrive.

After losing Tkachuk and with aspirations to maintain their level of competitiveness, they will need Eklund to.

Considering how much of the talk leading into the offseason focused on how it was important for Steve Staios to find a winger for Tim Stützle, is Eklund’s style of play a fit, or would he be better suited playing alongside Dylan Cozens on the second line?

As an aside, I am genuinely interested to see how Cozens fares away from Brady Tkachuk, considering how well the two played off each other with their ability to use their size and puck protection to control the cycle game and preserve possession in the offensive zone. Without Tkachuk, can Cozens be as effective as he was last season? That’s the challenge he will face this year.

Looking at the other two prospects, Kasper Halttunen was San Jose’s second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft (36th). The 6’3”, 205 lb Finn just completed his first professional season in North America playing for San Jose’s AHL affiliate, where he scored 16 goals and 35 points in 69 games.

The 21-year-old right winger is renowned for his unbelievable OHL postseason production with the London Knights, in which he scored 32 goals in 35 games across two seasons. Blessed with size and an excellent shot that is capable of beating quality goaltenders from distances, Haltunnen projects as a bottom-six NHL forward.

Brandon Svoboda was San Jose’s third-round pick (71st overall) in that same 2023 NHL Draft class. The right-shot centre finished his sophomore season at Boston University, where he tallied six goals and 15 points in 35 games. Svoboda is listed at 6’3”, and his skating and physical tools project favourably to give him a chance to play professionally, but he projects as a safe floor depth piece.

In a vacuum, I’m left a bit torn. I like the idea of targeting a young piece in Eklund, who has produced at the NHL level and whose timeline aligns with the rest of this young core. I am intrigued to see how he integrates onto the roster and whether this team’s blue line and its structure can benefit his offensive numbers and take them to another level. Adding two prospects in Halttunen and Svoboda to a relatively thin farm system to bolster its depth isn’t a terrible idea either.

At the same time, however, the Senators paid a significant price with a top-10 pick to acquire this trio of players. For a team within its competitive window of opportunity, it is not every year that a top-10 pick winds up in a team’s hands, and they have to maximize its value to make that ascent and be recognized as a Stanley Cup contender.

Obviously, with Brady Tkachuk requesting a trade, there was pressure to get a warm body back in return who could help preserve competitiveness. The risk is that, if Eklund is not a frontline player, the Senators will have a harder time escaping that muddy middle, wherein they’re simply a competitive team whose success is predicated on their structure.

There are more dominoes to fall, so I want to wait to see how the rest of Ottawa’s offseason goes before passing judgment. With approximately $19.5 million in cap space remaining, the Senators have lots of money left to make a splash and improve their roster.

That said, the opportunity cost of acquiring Eklund was high, and when moving such a high pick, the goal is to add impactful players, and I just can’t confidently say that the organization did that on Tuesday.

By Graeme Nichols
The Hockey News