William Eklund

[Stalinism]

What can we expect from Eklund this year?

He looked good with his limited chances with the Sharks this year but then went back to the SHL and had an underwhelming season.

Where will he play? What type of output should we see and how bad will the Quinn line blender affect him?

[Belexus75]

to me this year he can be anywhere from top line winger to not making the team...very hard to predict..i think down the road he will be an excellent winger with 60 points floor but when that happens im not sure.

[YzermansLegacy]

I'm expecting him to start in the minors (SJ protecting some non-waiver exempt assets at the start of the season... but feel like he may end up LW2 with some PP2 time as the season progresses and SJ is out of the running.

Meier-Hertl-Barabanov
Eklund-Couture-Kunin
Lindblom-Bonino-Labanc

That's how I see things unfolding come mid/late-season. Probably not enough to hit the fantasy radar this season but as Belexus said, down the road, he's likely going to be quite good.

[Habsy]

I wouldn’t put too much stock into his SHL season. I’ve read into Djurgardens as an organization the last 2 seasons and they’ve been an utter mess when it comes to their management. They lost a lot of talent (most notably Holtz and Eklund at the start of the season) after the 2020-21 SHL season after what was already considered subpar for their standards. Once Eklund came back, the offense basically only ran through him as Djurgardens had changed coaches FOUR TIMES throughout the season, of course he was destined to fail. It was such a horrible situation that it led to Djurgardens, an SHL powerhouse, being relegated to the Allsvenskan. Of course this isn’t 100% great for his development, but I don’t think hes anything less than what we saw in his 9 game stint with the Sharks and the 2 games at the WJC before it ended prematurely. Unless for management reasons, I fully expect Eklund to make the Sharks out of camp again and play the entire season with the Sharks, and with very little forward depth on the Sharks these days, he’ll likely play a top 6 role immediately, maybe even on the first line with PP1 time. I think there’s a stud in Eklund who could come in and win the Calder this upcoming season with about 60-65pts, with a career trajectory being anywhere from 80-95pt seasons, maybe the odd 100pt season here and there if you’re lucky. In other words, I’m very high on him for fantasy at least and I think a lot of people should be high on him too

[Feenom]

Next 2 years max out at 60-65 points. Beyond that when he becomes comfortable I can see 80-90 points consistently.

[Luffy D Monkey]

I have no idea what to expect, he could either make the team and play top line, PP1 or get only 9 games again. I dont like Quinn either. Is he like a Denisenko? Such a random outlook. Also the team is in a trash trajectory.

[Stalinism]

I thought that with his limited time in SJ last year he looked excellent on the powerplay and really stood out as a guy who controlled play from the half-wall. That said, his 5 on 5 play was less than impressive. There were games where he was invisible. Maybe it was the physicality of the game where he is a smaller player, or maybe it was speed and strength issues. Regardless, you would have to think that both of those issues would have been a focal point for him for the off season

[Bubba55]

Eklund is an excellent prospect but I personally don't think he is NHL ready just yet. If the Sharks rush him to the bigs that could very well go bad. Hopefully they bring him along properly and let him develop a complete game. When that happens, you'll have a very nice fantasy asset in him. It is very possible that within two to three years of full NHL play he could well be a PPG threat with a 65 pt floor give or take a few.

[Zorro]

Next 2 years max out at 60-65 points. Beyond that when he becomes comfortable I can see 80-90 points consistently.

Someone is a Eklund owner!!

[FinnishFlash]

Long-term, I think Eklund is going to be a star player. I've tried to acquire him in every league I'm in with zero luck.

Short-term (next few years), I think 40-50 points is a reasonable expectation, but I do think he has PPG+ upside. He's someone that I would be keeping tabs of because I could see him have a slower development curve and many fantasy GMs get frustrated when they don't get immediate results. Think Huberdeau, I believe it was his D+6 or D+7 year before he finally popped.