San Jose Sharks training camp is only a couple of days old, but Ivar Stenberg and Luca Cagnoni have already made themselves part of the conversation. Stenberg is turning heads with his hockey sense. Cagnoni, meanwhile, is pressing for something bigger: a real shot at the NHL roster.
That is why Cagnoni’s name is being searched now. The Sharks appear to have openings for a sixth and seventh defenseman on their 23-man roster, and the 5-foot-9 left-shot defender has moved quickly into the mix. Ryan Warsofsky said on Friday that Cagnoni had stacked two really good days, a useful sign for a player trying to turn a strong start into a place on the opening roster.
Cagnoni’s case is built on more than a hot camp. The Sharks drafted him in the fourth round in 2023, and he has already shown what his game looks like at speed: 95 points in 131 career AHL regular season games over two seasons with the Barracuda. His offense has not been the question. What matters now is whether he can keep doing enough away from the puck to make coaches trust him against bigger, better players when the games count.
Warsofsky has liked what he has seen in team practices and intrasquad scrimmages, and he said Cagnoni has come a long way in reading what is coming at him. The coach also said Cagnoni looks good on the right side if needed, which broadens the ways he can fit. That flexibility matters because the Sharks do not need him to be perfect; they need him to survive the parts of the game that usually decide whether an undersized defender stays or goes.
Friday offered one reminder of exactly where that test begins. Zack Ostapchuk dumped Cagnoni on his back and into the boards near the end of a battle drill, the kind of contact that can be easy to absorb in camp and far less forgiving once the schedule starts. Warsofsky has praised Cagnoni’s poise with the puck and said the team has to put him in spots where he can succeed, but the same coach also pointed to the bigger adjustment: the NHL is a whole other beast, and the work is about handling what comes at him throughout the game.
Stenberg’s early run has a different shape. The 18-year-old, taken No. 2 overall in June, began camp on a line with Alexander Wennberg and Collin Graf, and Warsofsky said his hockey sense is really good and that he has been picking up the Sharks’ systems quickly. For now, that is enough to keep him on that line and keep watching how long the fit lasts. For Cagnoni, the next decision is more direct: whether the early praise holds through the rest of camp and turns into one of those open defense spots on the San Jose Sharks in the 23-man roster.
