The NHL had a bit of a surprise Trade Deadline Day on Tuesday, with no less than four large-to-blockbuster trades happening one after another. The San Jose Sharks were not involved in the biggest deal of the day, but they were involved in the one that will probably have the most impact on the Vancouver Canucks.

The Sharks sent 23-year-old former seventh overall selection William Eklund, along with prospects Kasper Halttunen and Brandon Svoboda, to Ottawa in exchange for the ninth overall selection in the upcoming 2026 Entry Draft. The Senators had acquired that pick the previous day as part of the whopping return from the Florida Panthers for Brady Tkachuk.

Previously, the Sharks had leapfrogged the Canucks via the 2026 Draft Lottery, moving up to the second overall pick and bumping Vancouver down to third. But at the time, we speculated that this might have actually been a blessing in disguise, so long as the Canucks preferred to draft Ivar Stenberg, the player most frequently ranked second overall in this draft class.

The Sharks are a team already loaded to the brim with young forwards, but severely lacking in a future blueline. Our suggestion was that – assuming the Toronto Maple Leafs did the expected and drafted Gavin McKenna at first overall – the Sharks might pass on Stenberg at second to draft one of the top-ranked defenders, like Chase Reid, Carson Carels, or Keaton Verhoeff.

This would have then left Stenberg on the board for the Canucks at third overall. This scenario seemed likely enough that there was even a considerable level of stress among the fanbase about what it might mean if Stenberg were available and the Canucks passed on him anyway, taking someone like Caleb Malhotra in that spot instead.

But as of this trade, that speculation is no longer relevant, so all dreams of drafting Stenberg, and all worries about passing on him, can probably be safely set to the side. Because, as of this trade, the San Jose Sharks are now all but guaranteed to select Stenberg at second overall.

Part of it is the Eklund trade. While Stenberg is considered the higher-level prospect between the two, and while Eklund is obviously a little further along his development path, the two are otherwise very similar players. They’re both Swedish wingers who stand a little under 6’0” tall and weigh a little under 190 pounds. Both are more playmakers than snipers and use their on-ice vision and creativity to open up the ice for their teammates. Both play with a high level of compete.

That’s why the presence of Eklund, along with other young forwards like Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, Michael Misa, and Igor Chernyshov, had some folks expecting the Sharks to take a pass on Stenberg. It did look a bit like the Sharks already had their future top-six forward core in place.

But the trading of Eklund obviously changes that. It’s hard not to look at it as Eklund being moved so that Stenberg can take his spot in the long-term lineup, and as far as projections go, that should be a notable upgrade.

But what the Sharks got back for Eklund is also part of the picture here. Whether it’s Eklund or Stenberg in their future forward corps, the Sharks are still incredibly low on young defenders. They’ve got Sam Dickinson, drafted at 11^th overall in 2024, and a few other decent prospects, but that’s about it. Even with Stenberg in the fold, they still need to prioritize drafting defenders.

That’s where the ninth overall pick comes in. Another top-10 selection probably allows the Sharks to have their cake and eat it, too, as in drafting Stenberg at second overall and still landing a quality D prospect at ninth.

Typically, the top-nine prospects in this draft class are considered to be McKenna, Stenberg, Caleb Malhotra and Viggo Bjorck for forwards, and Reid, Carels, Verhoeff, Alberts Smits, and Daxon Rudolph for defenders. All it would take for the Sharks to land one of those D at ninth overall would be for the draft to go in the predicted order. Or, they might even wind up with a few D options, were someone else to slip into the top-nine, like large left winger Ethan Belchetz, centre Tynan Lawrence or USNTDP star Wyatt Cullen. And even if somehow all five of those aforementioned D went before their pick, the Sharks would still have the chance to pick the next best D, like Malte Gustafsson or Ryan Lin, at ninth.

And that, more or less, is what everyone now expects to happen. The Sharks seem poised to replace Eklund with Stenberg via the second overall pick, and to settle for whatever D is available at ninth for their next selection.

That would leave the Canucks with their own choices at third overall. Malhotra looks like a much stronger pick when not held up in comparison to McKenna or Stenberg, but then the Canucks would also have their choice of all available D prospects, and maybe they truly prefer someone like Reid there. Time will tell, but the Canucks now have a slight luxury in being able to more accurately predict the first two picks, and thus be extra ready for third.

We’ll end by mentioning that further trading could change all this. The Sharks are still reportedly fielding offers for the second overall. Theoretically, the Canucks could meet their asking price, swap from the third to the second, and take Stenberg themselves.

But given that the Sharks seem to have manoeuvred themselves into a position to select Stenberg, it stands to reason that they see him as the best available prospect. And that means the price to obtain him would be incredibly high, and that’s probably not something the Canucks should be all that interested in. Taking the best available player at third, and keeping all of their extra future assets in hand, seems like the wisest course forward for the Canucks at this point.

As for who they think the best available player might be, we’ll just have to wait until Friday to find out.