- Position
- D
- Number
- #42
- Pool rank
- No. 6
- Wheeler top 100
- HM
- Projected
- AHL / NHL bubble
- Status
- Under contract
- Pieces here
- 33
On the record
Called Shots →Luca Cagnoni plays fewer than 42 regular-season games for the San Jose Sharks in 2026-27. Scored off his official NHL regular-season games-played total for San Jose only: 41 or fewer is a hit, 42 or more is a miss, including if he reaches 42 after being recalled from the Barracuda, and including if he is traded (games for another club do not count).
Dmitry Orlov records more power-play time on ice than Luca Cagnoni in San Jose's regular-season opener against Florida on October 1, 2026.
Jacob Trouba has the highest shorthanded ice time per game of any San Jose defenseman across the club's first 20 games of 2026-27.
Nolan Allan is on San Jose's opening-night NHL roster for 2026-27.
Eric Pohlkamp plays 10 or more NHL regular-season games for San Jose in 2026-27.
Luca Cagnoni averages under 0:30 a game of shorthanded time on ice across San Jose's first 20 games of 2026-27.
Michael Kesselring averages more than 0:51 a game of power-play time on ice across San Jose's first 20 regular-season games of 2026-27.
Written about him
Luca Cagnoni Got Two Minutes Forty Seven A Night On San Jose's Power Play And Nothing At All On Its Kill
Luca Cagnoni is 21, in the final year of his entry-level contract at $920,000, and the only defenseman on San Jose's projected blue line the club can send to the American Hockey League without exposing him to waivers. Two published projections, carrying four voices between them, have him quarterbacking the first power play. He played three NHL games last season at 2:47 a night on the power play and 0:00 on the penalty kill, and put up 43 points in 67 games for the Barracuda. Professor Hockey projects 35 or more points; an open call on this site's ledger has him under 42 games. Both cannot be right.
San Jose Drew Its Rookie Line At One Hundred Games And Then Crossed It Once
San Jose released its 2026 Rookie Faceoff roster on September 1: 14 forwards, nine defensemen, three goaltenders. Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News reports the club's participation guideline is 100 or fewer combined NHL and AHL regular-season games, and that Luca Cagnoni is over it at 140. Sorted by that number, 14 of the 26 named have never played a professional regular-season game, and only Filip Bystedt at 123 is above the line. Sam Dickinson is under it at 72 and is not going either. Five of the nine defensemen invited shoot right, on a club whose established blue line carries two right shots.
Almost Half Of Dmitry Orlov's Points Came On A Power Play He Is Projected To Lose
Dmitry Orlov scored 37 points in 82 games last season, a career high in his fifteenth NHL year, and 18 of them came on the power play against a previous career best of eight. At even strength he had 19, the fewest of any full season he has played apart from his rookie year. He is 35, he is in the final season of a two-year deal at $6,500,000, and both published opening-night power-play projections put Luca Cagnoni at the point and leave Orlov off both units.
San Jose Can Lose Nolan Allan For Nothing, Which Is Exactly Why He Will Make The Team
Nolan Allan has played 43 NHL games, all of them for Chicago in 2024-25. He spent last season in the American Hockey League, 29 games with Rockford and 35 with the Barracuda after the January trade, and San Jose never dressed him. The Sharks signed him for two more years in June anyway. PuckPedia lists him as waiver-eligible and lists Luca Cagnoni as exempt, and that difference is the reason the least-used defenseman in the group is the one the roster has to make room for.
The Open Job On San Jose's Power Play Is Not The One Luca Cagnoni Is Being Given
Sheng Peng's opening-night power-play projection, with Jack Han and Jason Demers, puts Luca Cagnoni at the point on the first unit and leaves Dmitry Orlov off both. Orlov played 203.5 power-play minutes last season and was on the ice for 32 of San Jose's 54 power-play goals. Cagnoni has played 25.9 power-play minutes in his NHL career, across nine games in two seasons, and both times San Jose called him up it put him on the power play immediately.
The Cagnoni readiness study: a 43-point AHL puck-mover, a 5-foot-9 question, and the cheapest way to solve the left side
Is Luca Cagnoni ready? And what it saves if he is