SAN JOSE – San Jose Sharks training camp is only a couple of days old, and at least two of the team’s younger players have started to impress in their own way.
Both winger Ivar Stenberg and defenseman Luca Cagnoni are getting noticed: Stenberg for his hockey sense and ability to learn on the fly; Cagnoni for his offensive skill and the improvements he’s made in the defensive zone.
Cagnoni, a 2023 draft pick trying to crack the Sharks’ roster out of training camp for the first time in his career, has impressed coach Ryan Warsofsky in both team practices and intrasquad scrimmages.
“He’s stacked two really good days,” Warsofsky said Friday of Cagnoni, a Sharks’ fourth-round pick in 2023. “Another guy who looks a little bit bigger and stronger and a little bit quicker. Conditioning-wise, the NHL is a whole other beast. He did a lot of work this summer training, and he looks confident with the puck, so he’s going to get a good opportunity.”
Cagnoni, a left-shot defenseman, has been paired with veteran Dmitry Orlov over the first two days and hasn’t looked out of place, even as he plays on the right side.
“(Cagnoni has) poise with the puck, so we’ve got to put him in some positions to succeed, and we know he has the strength to do that,” Warsofsky said. “We feel really comfortable with him on the right side if we need to. He looks good.”
With 95 points in 131 career AHL regular season games over two seasons with the Barracuda, following a prolific career in the Western Hockey League, Cagnoni’s offensive prowess has never been in question.
It appears the Sharks have openings for a sixth and seventh defenseman on their 23-man roster to start the season. For the 5-foot-9 Cagnoni to make the Sharks roster and stay in the NHL all season, he’ll have to be consistent and show he can defend bigger, better players and handle the league’s physicality.
So far, Warsofsky has liked what he’s seen there, too, although toward the end of one battle drill on Friday, 6-4, 212-pound center Zack Ostapchuk dumped him on his back and into the boards.
“Cags has come a long way,” he said. “His skill and being able to make plays and run a power play is obviously unique, but he’s come a long way defending and understanding what’s coming at him throughout the game. Whether that’s off the rush, whether that’s in D-zone coverage, whether that’s off a faceoff and a box out, or you’re fronting, his details have come a long way in understanding what situation he’s in to put him — as a smaller defenseman — in the right spots.
“Orlov can really help him, and (Michael) Kesselring and (Darnell) Nurse, and these guys that have kind of been through it, but Cagnoni has picked up these things. I know it’s been three years, but he’s picked it up. That’s pretty good for a defenseman.”
As a shifty player mixed in with an otherwise large defense corps, Cagnoni’s play has also caught Kesselring’s eye,
“He’s kind of our offensive spark plug (on defense), and he can make some plays,” Kesselring said. “He can get involved.”
Stenberg, 18, has come as advertised; the No. 2 overall pick in June’s NHL draft has been on a line with Alexander Wennberg and Collin Graf to start camp.
Warsofsky was impressed with Stenberg’s skill during Friday’s scrimmage but added, “For me, it was his smarts. His hockey sense is really good, sees the ice really well, and has been picking up our systems quickly. We’re trying to work on the English a little bit, and he’s starting to understand it. (Wennberg) has helped him.
“But you show a clip, and then 10 minutes later he’s out there practicing it, and he’s picked it up really well.”
The Sharks’ first of four preseason games is on Sunday afternoon against the Ducks in Anaheim.
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