Eklund Trade Reaction! | Cam Robinson Talks Stenberg, Laila Edwards Excited for San Jose EP 131

Eklund Trade Reaction! | Cam Robinson Talks Stenberg, Laila Edwards Excited for San Jose EP 131

June 24, 2026



The San Jose Sharks just blew up draft week!

Mid-recording — right as we were rolling on our pre-draft special — Elliotte Friedman dropped the bomb: Sharks GM Mike Grier had traded William Eklund to the Ottawa Senators. So you get our genuine, unscripted, live on-air NHL reaction to the chaos as it broke!

The full return: The San Jose Sharks sent Eklund, Kasper Halttunen, and the rights to Brandon Svoboda to Ottawa for the ninth-overall pick in the 2026 Draft — a pick the Sens had just landed from Florida in the Brady Tkachuk deal. That leaves the Sharks holding the No. 2, 9, and 27 picks heading into Friday’s draft

But before all that craziness, an exclusive: Our sit-down with Laila Edwards, the first draft pick in PWHL San Jose history, taken fourth-overall out of Wisconsin. A 2026 Olympic gold medalist and the highest-drafted black woman in PWHL Draft history — she gets into being a role model, her mom’s “fire” fashion sense, her planned move to the Bay, some of her biggest personal influences, and what she brings to an expansion roster. She also jokes about moving into Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith’s mansion.

Then co-host Dan Boyle re-joins us from vacation with his insights on Chase Reid, Carson Carels, and the big decision for the Sharks at No. 2 — and the domino it sets off right behind them.

To close — lost in the chaos but recorded the day before the Eklund trade — Cam Robinson of Elite Prospects joins us for the definitive prediction on the San Jose Sharks’ pick at No. 2…Ivar Stenberg, the Frölunda winger projected as a future 80-90 point NHL forward.

00:00:00 Intro / Cold Open
00:02:59 Laila Edwards Interview: PWHL San Jose’s First-Ever Draft Pick
00:23:45 Dan Boyle Returns: Sharks at No. 2 & the Canucks Domino (Reid, Carels)
01:02:00 Friedman Drops the Bomb: Sharks Trade Eklund to the Senators
01:17:27 The Full Trade Return — Live Reaction to the Chaos
02:21:41 Cam Robinson (Elite Prospects) on the Sharks’ No. 2 Pick

The San Jose Hockey Now Podcast is sponsored by Bring Hockey Back and Bladetech Hockey.

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View Comments (25)

  1. Eklund was a really good player and also human being. Gonna miss him and wish him well in Ottawa! I think the reason we traded him was more due to roster construction as opposed to his performance – especially if we're drafting Stenberg. Can also see us compiling assets for a bigger trade.

    Agree we can still get one of the top-5 defenseman at 9, or trade up for someone like Verhoeff which would also just be a bigger team need.

    Not sure why the podcast here doesn't give Stenberg enough credit. He just put up a historic season in the SHL. Totally get Reid is great and all, but would be more balanced to give Stenberg credit where due. I think we get too caught up in player comps – Stenberg is a much better prospect than Raymond was.

  2. bruh how are all of them still saying “take reid” even after this trade???? 😂😂😂

    this was the most obvious “we’re taking stenberg” signal mike could’ve possibly sent; it was so loud it caused chicago to fuck their future into oblivion knowing stenberg was gone 😂

  5. 1:23:00 What I'll say to the idea that Eklund is predictable, I'd rather someone who's predictable but consistent with their work rate and intention, than someone who has flashes of brilliance then disappears for 2 periods. Eklund was played on the 2nd and 3rd line because he could be trusted there, not because he wasn't good enough. He played the shutdown role against the top lines so that Mack and Will could feast on the other lines. Throw Eklund on Macks wing and he's easily a point per game

    I know I'm in the vast majority of Sharks fans with this take but Eklund is a far FAR more impactful player than Smith. Not saying Smith can't grow into an all around player like Robertson but right now, he has literally done almost nothing when not playing on Macks wing. The off the puck play isn't near good enough and the production is far too reliant on Mack. You look at what wins Stanley cups and it's guys like Eklund. You saw that in Blake and Stankoven.

  7. 9+27+prospects for Hronek?
    Did Boyle look at Verhoef, Smits and Rudolph. Feels like he mentioned Verhoeff… Would love to hear his thoughts next time instead of cutting him off especially since one of them might be there at 9OA… or Belchetz as Sheng mentioned.
    Great take by Zubair on Eklund's game. There's a cap to his game altho he could improve. Sheng can disagree with Zubair but they traded him for a 9OA and tried to trade him before for Nemec cmon so perhaps they didn't like him as much as they said. I mean they weren't going to say they didn't like him but the proof is in the trade. There is no way OTT was going to trade Sanderson at this point cmon Sheng.
    On Kesselring, he came back too early and never really got fully healthy. I appreciate Sheng's caution but only if it's backed by correct info. Believe JD also alluded to this. Every trade has a risk but fans aren't always stupid cmon. Also as stated, he was a central part of JJPerterka deal and Doan was more of an add on. Even if he's not a top 4 on PO team which we'll find out soon, he'd be a good bottom pairing if the Sharks even can find 2 RD better than him which won't be easy. It's a fair deal a least altho ideally it was the 62nd pick going back instead but lots of teams would be interested in Kesseling. Hard to complain about this trade at all. Right now he's likely their best RD if Desh resigns and Muk plays offside or Pohlkamp wins a job. Carlson or even Trouba aren't likely to sign… That would indeed make him our top RD and PP1 at this point…. that's a great deal so are the fans really that dumb? Why does Sheng need to throw the fan under the bus as strawman all the time, it's annoying.

  9. The reason an NFL team would give up three #1 picks to move up to near the top of the NFL draft is because in football, that's typically where you find the QBs get drafted, so teams overpay in draft capital to get a potential franchise changing QB. I say potential, there are quite a few busts of QBs taken inside the top 5 picks, or QBs that just don't pan out and maybe become average guys or backups. If the QB pick you and gave up 3 – 1st round picks in a trade up for doesn't hit, it definitely bites you in the ass for the reason you stated..that you're giving up 3 pretty darn good starters. If a QB hits, though, you have a young, cost-controlled player to build around that significantly speeds up the Super Bowl contention window. Mahomes isn't the only guy to turn a franchise into a contender seemingly overnight. But yeah, it's because QB is probably the hardest position in all of sports to be exceptionally good at. There's probably 10-15 really good qbs in the world, and they're all in the NFL. But most of the QBs in the 10-15 range may not be franchise quarterbacks, so it's even less. And some of them take a while to develop and others come in with guns blazing.

  10. It's gonna be interesting. If they went Reid and Gustafsson at 2 & 9 assuming they keep the picks, that could be an incredible future D pairing. But I gotta admit, I'm coming around to Stenberg somewhat as an option too, but man, getting two higher end D in the draft is enticing. Gustafsson has been shooting up team's charts since the combine. If he's there at 9, he's a potential top pairing guy, floor as a top 4.

  11. If Toronto takes Stenberg and McKenna is there? If, as Mike indicated when asked that there has been a lot of interest in the #2 pick, I think that interest turns into a bit more of a bidding war if McKenna is avaialble. The chances of trading off of #2 becomes higher in this scenario and the offers presumably improve. If the offers still aren't enough to persuade Grier to move off of 2, then I would still go Reid. McKenna is almost a redundancy. He and Will Smith aren't the same, but they're similar style players. But I have to think that if McKenna falls to #2, there's going to be a better chance that some team is willing to overpay to obtain him.
    I paused to write this before they gave their answers. So I agree with the drunk Irishman. You don't win a cup with too many one dimensional, offensive wingers who are undersized.

  13. Do these guys think they are better at scouting than the sharks scouts. The trade makes it clear they think stenberg is a good bit better than Reid or any other D in this draft. We arguably have the brightest future in the league but let’s change what we have been doing and draft for need? 💀

  15. What is it about BPA people don’t understand? If the Leafs take Stenberg, Grier will take McKenna. That’s the pkan, thats why he traded Ecky for the 9th pick. To get this years Dman at 9. What’s so confusing about that 3lackavar ?

  21. I'm enjoying the episode! Listening in chunks while I work. Just some constructive feedback: maybe save the fashion question to later, so that it's not the first thing you talk about to your female guest. Or don't have to mention it. I know it was you breaking the ice and had no bad intentions at all. But it's one of those things that seems to always happen to women in interviews of all industries, for decades. I'm a fan and try to listen to every episode so please don't take this as hate! Just something to think about.

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