The Ottawa Senators have traded the ninth-overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft to the San Jose Sharks and brought back William Eklund, Kasper Halttunen and Brandon Svoboda in one deal that reshapes both sides of the transaction. For Ottawa, it is a rare move that turns a top-10 draft asset into an established NHL scorer and two young forwards.
Eklund is the name that makes the deal travel. The 23-year-old from Stockholm scored 15 goals and had 53 points in 78 games last season with San Jose, and his career line now stands at 50 goals and 163 points in 253 NHL games. The Sharks took him seventh overall in 2021, which means Ottawa is not buying promise alone; it is buying a player who has already moved from prospect status into real production.
Halttunen adds another layer of value. The 21-year-old was taken 36th overall in 2023 and scored 16 goals with 35 points in 69 games for the San Jose Barracuda in 2025-26. Svoboda, a third-round pick at 71st overall in 2023, just finished his second NCAA season with Boston University and posted six goals and 15 points in 35 games. Together, they give Ottawa three pieces for one premium pick, which is the kind of math that only works if the team believes the immediate roster upgrade matters more than waiting on another swing at the draft.
That is where the deal gets interesting. The Senators had only recently picked up the ninth-overall selection on Sunday in the trade that sent Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers, yet they were willing to move it again rather than hold it for another year. It is a sign that Ottawa valued certainty over another lottery-sized chance, and that San Jose was willing to turn a top-10 pick into one established winger and two prospects with their own track records.
What Ottawa does with this new mix is the next question. Eklund gives the Senators a player who can be counted on now, while Halttunen and Svoboda broaden the return beyond a single name. The Sharks, meanwhile, have converted the 2026 ninth-overall pick into three players, and that is a trade that says both teams were ready to choose a different kind of future.
