William Eklund of the San Jose Sharks returns and will play against the Minnesota Wild
The San Jose Sharks activated forward William Eklund off injured reserve and will have him in the lineup Tuesday when they face the Minnesota Wild at Grand Casino Arena to begin a three-game road trip.
Eklund, who had missed the last four games with a lower-body injury, was a full participant in Monday’s practice in San Jose and Tuesday’s morning skate in St. Paul. On Monday, he skated on the Sharks’ second line with Alexander Wennberg and Philipp Kurashev.
To create a roster spot for Eklund, the Sharks sent forward Ethan Cardwell back to the Barracuda. Cardwell played in four games with the Sharks following his recall from the AHL on November 2 and didn’t necessarily look out of place as he scored one goal and averaged 12:21 on the ice.
Eklund is the Sharks’ third-leading scorer this season with 11 points in 12 games. In six games from Oct. 23 to Nov. 1, Eklund had four goals and five assists, including a three-point night on Oct. 26 when the Sharks beat the Wild 6-5 in overtime.
In that game, Eklund, along with Wennberg and defenseman Timothy Liljegren, were stuck in the Sharks’ end for most of the 3-on-3 overtime before leaving the ice for Macklin Celebrini. After a save by goalie Yaroslav Askarov, Celebrini controlled the loose puck, raced into the Minnesota zone and beat Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt at 3:47 of overtime.
Since that game, the Sharks are 5-1-1.
After Tuesday, the Sharks finish their road trip with games against the Calgary Flames on Thursday and the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
SCRATCHED LILY BRANCH
Defenseman Timothy Liljegren will be left out of Tuesday’s game, Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky confirmed. This will be the first time this season that Liljegren will sit by a coach’s decision. He also missed three games last month due to injury.
Liljegren has averaged 20:31 in 13 games this season, most recently playing on the Sharks’ top defensive pairing alongside Dmitry Orlov. He’s also become one of the Sharks’ best penalty killers, as the team has scored 17 consecutive penalties in its last five games on Tuesday.
The Sharks have more internal competition for ice time on the blue line. Vincent Iorio is on conditional loan with the Barracuda. However, the Sharks still have eight defensemen with them on this road trip after Nick Leddy was activated off IR on Monday.
With Liljegren out, Shakir Mukhamadullin, who was scratched for Saturday’s game against the Florida Panthers, will return to the lineup and be paired with Orlov. The Sharks will also have Mario Ferraro paired with John Klingberg and Sam Dickinson alongside Vincent Desharnais.
#mnwild lines without Middleton
Kaprizov-Rossi-Zuccarello
Boldy-JEEk-Johansson
Tarasenko-Hartman-Hinostroza
Foligno-Yurov-TreninBrodin-Spurgeon
Buium-Faber
Hunt-Jiricek
Spacek-Jessi Pierce (@jessi_pierce) November 11, 2025
GOALKEEPER CAROUSEL
The Sharks started goaltender Yaroslav Askarov against the Wild, marking his second straight start after making 38 saves in San Jose’s win over Florida on Saturday, a change of pace from the previous six games.
Starting in the Sharks’ game against the Los Angeles Kings on October 28, Alex Nedeljkovic and Askarov alternated starts, and it worked for both goalies. Since starting October 30 against the New Jersey Devils and heading into Tuesday’s game, Nedeljkovic is 2-0-1 with a .972 save percentage. In three starts this month, Askarov is 3-0-0 with a .972 save percentage.
HOW TO WATCH TUESDAY’S GAME
Fans interested in watching Tuesday’s game will need a subscription to ESPN+ or Hulu. After tonight, the streaming services will also broadcast the Sharks’ home game against the Los Angeles Kings on November 20.
Tuesday’s game begins shortly after 5 p.m. PT. The price of the ESPN+ subscription is now $13 per month.
