San Jose Sharks forward William Eklund was emotional as he spoke about losing his best friend, Fabian Zetterlund.
Eklund was not ready to speak to the media on Saturday, the day after the trade was done, and was distraught during his scrum today. The 22-year-old handled the conversation with class and genuine emotions to the best of his ability.
“It’s tough. It’s a difficult decision that we had to do,” Eklund said. “I don’t know what to say about the deadline thing, but it’s, yeah, it’s obviously tough in all this.”
Eklund was asked how he found out about Zetterlund’s move to the Ottawa Senators and explained that the duo stepped out of a sauna together.
“We’re taking the sauna together, and we came out of the sauna, and [Mike Grier] called,” Eklund explained. “[I’m] never going back there, that’s for sure.”
Eklund was doing everything he could to keep himself together. Still, when SHD asked about how he and Zetterlund were able to grow their careers with the San Jose Sharks together, the winger became extremely emotional.
After a brief pause, Eklund said quietly, “It’s tough.” The media let him breathe and gather himself for a moment following his answer.
According to Eklund, the two Swedes saw each other every day. They were best friends and became inseparable.
As for the support his teammates and coaches gave him:
“[They] just wanted to give me a little space. One of the toughest days in my life, I would say. And that’s a privilege, I would say, too, if that’s one of the toughest days,” Eklund said. “He’s family for me. He is my family. We hung out; we had Christmas Day together. The message was just a little space. Be a human for a while, and then come back and play.”
Zetterlund moves to the Ottawa Senators and enters a Stanley Cup Playoff chase. Eklund said he hopes his best friend wins the Stanley Cup with his new team.
“We wish him the best of luck in Ottawa. I hope he goes and wins the cup right now. Then see each other in the summer,” Eklund said. “He is [playing tonight]. It’s gonna be fun to watch.”
Zetterlund will play his first game for the Senators against the Detroit Red Wings in a critical game for the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Eklund told reporters that he had a conversation with Mike Grier about the direction of the San Jose Sharks. Like Grier told reporters after the trade deadline, it is time to start winning more games.
“[I’m] not gonna go into what that was said. Obviously, we lost a great teammate. We lost a couple of great teammates, for sure. We lost Zetts. We lost a competitor, and [I’ve] never seen anything like it. But it’s part of the business. We’re all sick of losing here, and I hope this was moving in the right direction,” Eklund said.
“It’s always going in the right direction. We have a lot of good pieces around here. We know that. Now, it’s just time to start building here. I think it’s time to stop losing. I want to win, and I’m sick of losing. It gets in your head. It gets into your off days, and you think about it and stuff like that. I’m sick of losing. Hopefully a few years now, you’re gonna laugh about it.”
Eklund will be part of the San Jose Sharks’ core, along with other young NHL stars like Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, and Henry Thrun.
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