The Ottawa Senators’ Fabian Zetterlund gets around. In his four seasons in the NHL, the 25-year-old Swedish right winger has played for three different NHL clubs, bouncing from the New Jersey Devils to the San Jose Sharks and ending up in Bytown at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline.
In case some Senators fans are wondering, Zetterlund isn’t being traded because he has disappointed. So, what can the Senators faithful expect to see from the pending restricted free agent (RFA) in their team’s 16 remaining regular season games and into what they hope will be a playoff run this spring? Here’s a look.
Zetterlund Shocked by Trade to Senators
Zetterlund was as surprised as anyone in Ottawa on hearing he had been traded to the Senators just seconds before the 3 p.m. deadline on March 7. He hadn’t been the subject of any trade rumours and thought that because he had marked up the scoresheet for 17 goals and 19 assists over his 64 games with the Sharks that he was part of the club’s rebuild (from Bruce Garrioch, ‘Fabian Zetterlund isn’t sweating his Ottawa Senators debut against Detroit, The Ottawa Citizen, 9/3/25).
The trade went off like a bomb for Zetterlund. He and his best friend and fellow Shark William Eklund were in the sauna just before the deadline, and on exiting, he took a call from his good friend Rasmus Sandin of the Washington Capitals who told him he’d been traded. As Sandin recounted the conversation, “I’m like, yeah, man, that sucks. He’s like, what? I’m like, you just got traded. He had no idea. Their general manager (GM), Mike Grier called him at the same time. He’s like, the GM is calling me right now. I’ll call you back.” Grier told him that he along with Tristen Robins, and a 2025 fourth-round pick were being packaged up and sent to Ottawa in exchange for Zack Ostapchuk, Noah Gregor, and a 2025 second-round pick.
Related: Eklund’s Comments on Zetterlund Trade Show Sharks Need to be Careful
The young Sharks star took the trade hard. It was clear he was happy in San Jose, exclaiming in an interview with local media that, “I love this place. I love the city. I love everything about it, so of course I want to stay here for a long time.” Even so, Grier and Senators’ president of hockey operations and GM Steve Staios had other plans for him.
What Senators See in Zetterlund
The Zetterlund trade was a difficult one for Staios to engineer. As Grier explained it, “Steve and I had some conversations throughout (deadline day) and we had some back-and-forth. It was a difficult trade on both sides. It probably took so long because of what we think about Fabian and what they felt about (Ostapchuk). Sometimes when you have those things it’s not easy for either side to part with a player. It took a little bit of time, but we worked it out.”
Grier summed up the reason for the trade by explaining that the 21-year-old Ostapchuck brings strength “down the middle to the Sharks and this kind of gives us something a little different with size, pace and physicality. Ottawa is ahead of where we are and (Zetterlund) fits into where they are as far as winning now.”
Although Zetterlund has been slotted at wing on the fourth line, playing with Adam Gaudette and Matthew Highmore, that’s not necessarily where Senators fans will see him stay. As Senators’ bench boss Travis Green explained before Zetterlund hit the ice for the first time in a Senators sweater against the Detroit Red Wings on March 8, “I see him being a powerplay guy for sure. We do change our lines around. I see him moving up and down the lineup. It just made sense to put him out there (on the fourth line) tonight to let him get his feet wet a little bit.”
One of the things Green sees in Zetterlund is that, “he goes hard to the net. He likes to shoot the puck. He’s got a good shot. He’s got a nose for the net.” That will be important to the Senators with the difficulties they’ve had this season scoring goals. While their goal scoring has improved lately, they are still only ranked 18th in the league on total goals scored.
The Upside Potential Zetterlund Brings to Senators’ Roster
Based on what Senators fans have seen of Zetterlund in the four games he’s played with Ottawa so far, (zero points) they could be forgiven for questioning Green’s belief that he’s an offensive asset. Yet if they look at his breakout year in 2023-24, they’ll find some comfort. In 82 games he marked up the scoresheet for 24 goals and 20 assists for a total of 44 points – nearly double his previous career high of 23 points. What’s important is that 17 of his 24 goals last season were scored at even strength – something the Senators could use.
As The Hockey Writers’ Jacob Billington explains it, Zetterlund adds a lot of what the Senators are missing in the bottom-six and depth. Speed, strength, and scoring. Giving up Zack Ostapchuk might not sit well with some, but this (the Zetterlund addition) is a clear up on what Ostapchuk’s ceiling was going to be. Realistically, he didn’t project to be more than a good fourth-line center.
Zetterlund also brings a physical dimension to the Senators’ forward lines. Packing as he does, 220 pounds onto a 5-foot-11 frame, he’s probably one of the strongest players in the league. He proved it in an Instagram video deadlifting 600 pounds!
Zetterlund uses that strength on the ice registering 120 hits last season with the Sharks. Despite averaging barely more than nine minutes per game with Ottawa he’s notched 11 hits in four games. That will prove valuable to the Senators as the race heats up for the fourth playoff spot in the Atlantic Division.
While he’s young and has no NHL playoff experience, he’s shown glimpses of leadership and an ability to play under pressure based on his international experience. He has represented his country in seven high-level international tournaments. He skated as an alternate captain for Sweden in the 2019 World Junior Championship and played for Team Sweden in the World Championship last year. Some say he’ll play for Sweden at the 2026 Olympics.
Zetterlund Should be an Impact Player for Senators
Senators fans should expect Zetterlund to have an impact as their team charges down the stretch toward a playoff spot. He seems excited to be playing for the Senators, saying before his first game as a Senator that, “I’m ready. I feel great. I’m looking forward to stepping on the ice tomorrow and it’s going to be fun.” Playing for a playoff contender is something he’s never experienced and was unlikely to do any time soon as a Shark. Not only that, but as a pending RFA he’ll be trying hard to show that he’s worth a long-term extension with a big salary increase.
Zetterlund bears watching.
