Ottawa adds AHL rookie Kasper Halttunen in Sharks trade

Ottawa’s June 23 trade with San Jose brought Kasper Halttunen into the Senators’ pipeline, and the 21-year-old winger arrives with 35 points from his first full AHL season. At 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, the Helsinki native gives Belleville a different kind of scoring prospect, one built more on power and finishing touch than on the typical small, playmaking profile.

The Senators sent the ninth overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft to the Sharks and received William Eklund, Halttunen and the rights to unsigned draft pick Brandon Svoboda. Eklund is the most established NHL piece in the swap, with 53 points in 78 games last season and 163 career points in 252 games, but Halttunen is the name that changes Ottawa’s AHL depth chart. He played 69 games for the San Jose Barracuda in 2025-26 and finished with 16 goals and 19 assists, then added one goal in two Calder Cup Playoff appearances.

Those numbers matter because Halttunen did more than survive his rookie year. He finished in the top 20 among AHL rookies in points and ranked eighth among Barracuda skaters, production that points to a forward who can score against pro defenders without needing a long acclimation period. San Jose originally took him 36th overall in the second round of the 2023 NHL Draft out of HIFK in Liiga, and the organization’s investment in his frame and shot now passes to Ottawa.

For Belleville, the immediate question is where Halttunen fits once camp opens. If he does not push straight into Ottawa’s NHL roster, the Senators have added a forward who should step into a prominent AHL role quickly and test the league’s bigger, heavier defenders with a direct style. That is the value in the deal for Ottawa: not just a prospect, but one who already has 69 AHL games and Calder Cup experience on his résumé.

San Jose used the move to turn recent AHL depth into more draft capital, and the Sharks now hold the second, ninth and 27th picks in the first round of the 2026 draft. Ottawa, meanwhile, gets a young scorer who can help define the next tier of its prospect hierarchy as the organization tries to bridge present NHL needs with the longer runway of Belleville development.