SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks went through their normal pregame routine Saturday morning as they started to get ready for that night’s home game against the New York Islanders.
But there was little question the Sharks were still reeling, both professionally and personally, from this week’s trade activity, which saw a handful of popular and respected veterans shipped to contending teams before Friday’s NHL trade deadline.
A few lockers inside the Sharks’ dressing room at the practice facility remained empty Saturday morning, including the one that belonged to winger Fabian Zetterlund, who was surprisingly traded to the Ottawa Senators just before Friday’s deadline.
Zetterlund had been one of the Sharks’ leading scorers since the start of the 2023-24 season, establishing himself as a top-six NHL forward. He was also a good friend to many players on the team, and he and William Eklund, in particular, developed an extremely close bond.
Eklund declined to speak with reporters after Saturday’s morning skate, still emotional, it seemed, after seeing his best buddy get traded to Ottawa for forwards Zach Ostapchuk and Noah Gregor and a 2025 second-round draft pick. The Sharks also sent minor league forward Tristen Robins and a fourth-round draft pick to the Senators.
Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said he spoke to Eklund on Friday after the trade deadline.
“An emotional day for him, and it’s going to take some time. He’s a young kid himself,” Warsofsky said of the 22-year-old Eklund. “He’s not just going to show up today with a big smile on his face ready to go. It’s tough. So we’ve got to put our arms around him a little bit, and we’ve got to be there to support him.
“He just lost his best friend,” Warsofsky added about Eklund, his voice trailing off. “I feel for him.”
Sharks center Alexander Wennberg said Eklund and Zetterlund were like “two peas in a pod.”
“You can’t really see one without the other,” Wennberg said of his fellow Swedish-born players. “Obviously, it’s tough to see that. Even me, I hung out with (Zetterlund) every day, we’d go to dinner. He’s a really, really good guy. I wish him all the best. It (stinks) not having around every day for sure.”
As part of the trade deadline selloff, the Sharks also traded goalie Vitek Vanecek and center Nico Sturm to the Florida Panthers, defenseman Jake Walman to the Edmonton Oilers, and forward Luke Kunin to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
In their place during Saturday’s morning skate, the Sharks had winger Klim Kostin in Zetterlund’s spot on a line with Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, goalie Georgi Romanov backing up Alexandar Georgiev, and newcomer Patrick Giles in Sturm’s old spot as the fourth-line center.
Shakir Mukhamadullin was on the Sharks’ top defense pair instead of Walman, and Nikolai Kovalenko, like he did for Thursday’s game in Colorado, took Kunin’s spot on the wing on the third line.
That’s a lot of shuffling from where the Sharks were on Tuesday when they beat the Buffalo Sabres 6-2 in one of their better efforts this season.
“It’s a tough day,” said Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro, who was paired with Mukhamadullin Saturday and was the subject of trade rumors in his own right.
“But that’s the trade deadline for you. It’s not easy. It’s never easy. It’s sad to say goodbye to some guys. But at the same time, you look at the other side of it, it’s exciting to say hello to some new guys, and we have to move on. And the players that are gone have to move on and focus on playing some hockey.”
The Sharks have 18 games left in the regular season starting with Saturday. Their date against the Islanders starts an eight-game homestand.
Considering the Sharks are now without their two top defensemen from earlier in the season, Walman and Cody Ceci, two top-six forwards in Zetterlund and Mikael Granlund, veteran depth forwards Sturm and Kunin, and an experienced goalie in Vanecek, the final six-plus weeks could bring a certain amount of pain, as general manager Mike Grier noted Friday. Granlund and Ceci were traded to the Dallas Stars on Feb. 1.
The Sharks entered Saturday in last place in the NHL’s overall standings with 43 points. According to tankathon.com, they, as of Saturday, have the 12th-hardest remaining schedule in the league, with their opponents averaging a .553 points percentage.
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In other words, some leaner times appear to be ahead, and it’s going to be up to some of the Sharks veterans to keep the mood upbeat if the losses continue to pile up, especially now that some of their best friends are elsewhere.
“We talked to the leadership group, talked to the group as a whole,” Warsofsky said. “We have to feel this as human beings. We’re not running from it. We have to move forward, but we’re not running from it.”
NOTABLE: Gregor was not with the Sharks on Saturday, as a team spokesperson said he is still sorting through some immigration paperwork. The Sharks’ next game is Tuesday at home against the Nashville Predators. … Warsofsky could not say what’s planned for Ostapchuk, who is on the San Jose Barracuda’s roster right now. It’s unclear when he might play for the Barracuda or be recalled to the Sharks. Ostapchuk was on the Belleville Senators roster before the trade to San Jose.
