SAN JOSE, CA – San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) General Manager Doug Wilson announced today that the club has signed center William Eklund (@WilliamEklund72) to a standard entry-level contract. Per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The 18-year-old center registered 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists) with Djurgardens IF in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), setting career highs in his second season in goals, assists, points, and games played. He led the SHL juniors in goals, finished second in points, and was tied for second in assists and his three game-winning goals was tied for first on his Swedish club. Eklund was named the SHL Rookie of the Year and the Swedish Junior Hockey Player of the Year. In the SHL, he has registered 25 points (11 goals, 14 assists) in 60 games.
Prior to his SHL career, he has appeared with Djurgardens junior teams, recording 39 points (13 goals, 26 assists) in 44 games in the SuperElit (J-20), and in the Allsvenskan juniors, he posted 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists) in 31 career games. During the 2018-19 season, he helped Djugardens to a Bronze Medal in the SuperElit league, and held the best faceoff percentage (64%) in the J-18 Elit. In 2017-18, he helped his J-18 team to a Gold Medal.
The five-foot-ten, 172-pound native of Haninge, Sweden was selected by San Jose in the 2021 NHL Draft (first round, seventh overall).
