After moving Nikita Okhotyuk to Calgary in a late move before Friday’s trade deadline, the Sharks were down to just six defenders on their active roster. They’ve determined who his replacement on the roster will be as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled blueliner Jacob MacDonald from AHL San Jose.
The 30-year-old has spent most of the year with the Sharks but playing time was limited thanks to three separate injuries that kept him on injured reserve for 29 games. In between those, MacDonald got into 22 games, recording six goals and one assist along with 37 hits while averaging a little over 12 minutes a night.
Last month, the Sharks opted to place MacDonald, a pending unrestricted free agent, on waivers to give a longer look to some of their other options. He cleared and was sent to the Barracuda a little more than two weeks ago. He suited up six times for them, collecting four assists.
There’s a decent chance MacDonald might not wind up back there as Ty Emberson is on injured reserve while Matt Benning is likely done for the season so MacDonald could be in a depth role for the Sharks for the stretch run. Since this is a post-deadline recall, he would be eligible to return to the Barracuda later on while this will count as one of their four allowable regular recalls unless there’s another blueliner whose availability for their game tonight against Ottawa is in question.