San Jose Sharks top defense prospect Luca Cagnoni received his first recall from the NHL on Tuesday. The 20-year-old is expected to debut on Thursday against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The rookie defenseman has 47 points (13 goals, 47 assists) in 56 games this season. Cagnoni is third in the entire AHL in rookie scoring and is second in points by defenseman overall.
San Jose also sent Jimmy Schuldt to the San Jose Barracuda, and Schuldt gave Cagnoni the news, telling him to “Light it up.”
“I got the call a little while after saying that I was going up, so my heart was beating like all last night, and it was actually kind of hard to sleep,” Cagnoni told reporters after his first sharks practice. “I’m just super happy to be up here.”
Cagnoni was a 4th-round draft pick by the Sharks in 2023. At 5’9, Cagnoni has had to display a lot of improvement physically and defensively to earn this chance.
“I remember his first development camp and first training camp; he was a deer in the headlights,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “You saw some skill, but it was a lot for him. He went back to junior and did a really good job of being assertive, playing towards the strengths.”
Cagnoni wasn’t a shoo-in to make the Barracuda roster, either. The newest Sharks defenseman told reporters that he found out he would stay just a few games into the AHL season.
“It was a huge summer for me. I know we talked at the development camp, and then I went back; I had two months until we came back, [and] I just put a lot of time in there and came back a different player,” Cagnoni said.
“I think on-ice wasn’t really a problem, but just maturing, off the ice. I came back, and then the opportunity was there, and I just took it.”
On Tuesday, Cagnoni was paired with 6’7 d-man Vincent Desharnais during San Jose Sharks practice. Desharnais said he is excited to play with Cagnoni.
“He can move, for sure. He’s a little water bug out there. He reminds me of my D partner in college, Jacob Bryson. He plays for Buffalo now,” Desharnais said. “[They are kind of] the same. Short, but really fast. Can make some really nice plays.
That’s what we just talked about, like, Hey, let me do the heavy lifting, and then just make sure that your boots are moving and you make some nice plays. I’ll take care of the physicality.”
Warsofsky joked that the pairing was to “average out the height.”
Cangnoni Gets A Big Chance With Power-Play
With offense as the main calling card, the Sharks aren’t wasting any time putting Cagnoni on the top power-play unit.
William Eklund was dropped from the top unit for Cagnoni.
“We want to get Cagnoni on there. That’s one of his strengths. We wanted to try to get away from the five-forward unit,” Warsofsky said. “Getting used to playing with [Macklin Celebrini] and [Will Smith] on the flanks. [Alex Wennberg] down low, and [Tyler Toffoli] from the as a bumper. That will be the biggest challenge for him, but he has a natural instinct to run a power play. It’s probably one of the best things he does.”
Cagnoni has gotten his chance and said his parents, other family members, and friends will be in attendance on Thursday.
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