Luca Cagnoni made history to start this season for the San Jose Sharks.
Less than a month later, he’s been demoted.
The news emerged Wednesday that Cagnoni is being sent down to the AHL. Here’s what we know.
Sharks Demote Cagnoni, Make 5 Roster Moves
The Sharks have sent Cagnoni down to the AHL San Jose Barracuda, they announced at 10 a.m. local time in San Jose.
They’re calling up both forward Filip Bystedt and defenseman Libor Hajek from the Barracuda.
The Sharks are also placing two forwards on injured reserve: Igor Chernyshov and Alexander Wennberg.
The #SJSharks have recalled F Filip Bystedt and D Libor Hajek from the @sjbarracuda.
F Igor Chernyshov and F Alexander Wennberg have been placed on injured reserve.
D Luca Cagnoni has been re-assigned to the Barracuda.
— San Jose Sharks PR (@SanJoseSharksPR) October 28, 2026
Why Sharks Sent Down Luca Cagnoni
Cagnoni hadn’t quite made enough of a forward-moving contribution so far this season to stay in the NHL.
Through nine games (out of 13 possible), Cagnoni had one goal and one assist in 17:29 on the ice.
Cagnoni has played 131 games at the AHL level and has 95 points.
The Sharks will be hoping that over time, the 21-year-old Cagnoni can carry a bit more out of that AHL point accumulating into the NHL.
Luca Cagnoni’s Recent History
Cagnoni made history earlier in October when he scored an overtime game winner against the Florida Panthers.
It was Cagnoni’s first career goal in the NHL. He became the first Sharks player to notch his first career goal on a game-winning goal in overtime.
It was quite the moment, too, with Cagnoni surprising himself totally alone in on goal and scoring from close range.
Luca Cagnoni Origin
Cagnoni does have some background of scoring goals in his past.
He was a WHL star for the Portland Winterhawks. In 2022-23, he had 17 goals and 47 assists in 67 games, and then in 2023-24, he had 18 goals and 72 assists in 65 games.
He also scored 16 goals with 36 assists with the AHL San Jose Barracuda in 2024-25, before going for eight goals and 35 assists for the Barracuda last season.
The problem for Cagnoni is that since he scored that historic goal against the Panthers, he hasn’t scored again. Maybe he’s an OT specialist.
But in all seriousness, he’s still young and has potential. He’ll have to keep plugging away at the AHL level with the Barracuda until he gets another chance with the Sharks.
Sharks Demote History-Making 21-Year Old