SAN JOSE >> The San Jose Sharks went through their normal pregame routine Saturday morning as they started to get ready for that night’s home game against the New York Islanders.

But there was little question the Sharks were still reeling, both professionally and personally, from this week’s trade activity, which saw a handful of popular and respected veterans shipped to contending teams before Friday’s NHL trade deadline.

A few lockers inside the Sharks’ dressing room at the practice facility remained empty Saturday morning, including the one that belonged to winger Fabian Zetterlund, who was surprisingly traded to the Ottawa Senators just before Friday’s deadline.

Zetterlund had been one of the Sharks’ leading scorers since the start of the 2023-24 season, establishing himself as a top-six NHL forward. He was also a good friend to many players on the team, and he and William Eklund, in particular, developed an extremely close bond.

Eklund declined to speak with reporters after Saturday’s morning skate, still emotional, it seemed, after seeing his best buddy get traded to Ottawa for forwards Zach Ostapchuk and Noah Gregor and a 2025 second-round draft pick. The Sharks also sent minor league forward Tristen Robins and a fourth-round draft pick to the Senators.

Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said he spoke to Eklund on Friday after the trade deadline.

“An emotional day for him, and it’s going to take some time. He’s a young kid himself,” Warsofsky said of the 22-year-old Eklund. “He’s not just going to show up today with a big smile on his face ready to go. It’s tough. So we’ve got to put our arms around him a little bit, and we’ve got to be there to support him.

“He just lost his best friend,” Warsofsky added about Eklund, his voice trailing off. “I feel for him.”

Sharks center Alexander Wennberg said Eklund and Zetterlund were like “two peas in a pod.”

“You can’t really see one without the other,” Wennberg said of his fellow Swedish-born players. “Obviously, it’s tough to see that. Even me, I hung out with (Zetterlund) every day, we’d go to dinner. He’s a really, really good guy. I wish him all the best. It (stinks) not having him around every day for sure.”

As part of the trade deadline selloff, the Sharks also traded goalie Vitek Vanecek and center Nico Sturm to the Florida Panthers, defenseman Jake Walman to the Edmonton Oilers, and forward Luke Kunin to the Columbus Blue Jackets.

In their place during Saturday’s morning skate, the Sharks had winger Klim Kostin in Zetterlund’s spot on a line with Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith, goalie Georgi Romanov backing up Alexandar Georgiev, and newcomer Patrick Giles in Sturm’s old spot as the fourth-line center.

Shakir Mukhamadullin was on the Sharks’ top defense pair instead of Walman, and Nikolai Kovalenko, like he did for Thursday’s game in Colorado, took Kunin’s spot on the wing on the third line.

That’s a lot of shuffling from where the Sharks were on Tuesday when they beat the Buffalo Sabres 6-2 in one of their better efforts this season.

“It’s a tough day,” said Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro, who was paired with Mukhamadullin Saturday and was the subject of trade rumors in his own right.

“But that’s the trade deadline for you. It’s not easy. It’s never easy. It’s sad to say goodbye to some guys. But at the same time, you look at the other side of it, it’s exciting to say hello to some new guys, and we have to move on. And the players that are gone have to move on and focus on playing some hockey.”