[Peng] Eklund Taking Zetterlund Trade Hard

Eklund declined to speak to the media after morning skate today, an unusual occurrence. New alternate captain Alex Wennberg went out of his way to speak for his young countryman, taking questions on his behalf.

Wennberg, 30, gets it. He remembered in 2017, when the Vegas Golden Knights selected his best friend William Karlsson from the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Expansion Draft. “Being a Swede, you have guys you rely on and guys you’re hanging out with a bunch,” Wennberg said about the importance of kinship in a foreign place. “You hang out with a guy everyday, and then all of a sudden, you’re on two different teams.” […] “It’s not the first and not the last time,” Wennberg said, “it’s just how it works.”

Wennberg and fellow alternate captain Tyler Toffoli and head coach Ryan Warsofsky shared that they all spoke with Eklund yesterday. “An emotional day for him, and it’s going to take some time. He’s a young kid himself. He’s not just going to show up today with a big smile on his face, ready to go,” Warsofsky said, after morning skate, getting a little choked up himself. “It’s tough. So we got to put our arms around him a little bit, and we got to be there to support him. He just lost his best friend. I feel for him.”

“We’ve got a really close group of guys here that he can lean on,” Toffoli said. “I think he’ll be just fine.”