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Sharks Assign Igor Chernyshov To AHL

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The San Jose Sharks have assigned top wing prospect Igor Chernyshov to the AHL following the end of his season with the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit. Chernyshov signed his entry-level contract on August 1st, just over one month after the Sharks drafted him with the 33rd-overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.

Chernyshov underwent surgery to address a shoulder injury soon after signing his entry-level contract. The procedure forced him to sit out until January 30th. In that time, Chernyshov moved from Russia’s Dynamo Moskva to the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit – where he quickly made up for lost time. He scored two goals in his OHL debut, then followed it up with a jaw-dropping 19 points in his first six games in the league. Chernyshov was a scoring machine on the OHL’s second-highest-scoring offense, and posted seven different games of at least four points versus just five games with no scoring. His OHL season ended with an incredible 19 goals and 55 points in 23 games – or an average of 2.39 points-per-game. That scoring pace was the highest in the CHL this season, and ranks as the fourth-highest in the OHL since 2000, just behind Chicago Blackhawks legend Patrick Kane.

Chernyshov’s scoring output ranks him among some of the best scorers in OHL history – but his game is far less flashy than many of his contemporaries. He’s instead an aggressive and cerebral forechecker who earned his points on the back of tireless pressure and smart positioning. Chernyshov didn’t shy away from contact after undergoing surgery either – and his muscular six-foot-three, 205-pound frame clearly stood out in the junior league. He seemed poised for immediate pro games after splitting last season between 34 games in the KHL and 22 games in the MHL. An OHL stint helped cushion him after an injury emerged, and Chernyshov took full advantage. He’ll enter North American pros with plenty of momentum behind him, and look to use his feisty style and cerebral scoring to support the San Jose Barracuda to a deep playoff run.

San Jose Sharks Reassign Collin Graf

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According to a team announcement, the San Jose Sharks have reassigned forward Collin Graf to their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. Graf is not expected to play in the NHL again this season.

Graf had a quality longer-term stay with the Sharks this season. He scored five goals and 11 points in 33 games with a -4 rating, a nine-point improvement from his 2023-24 output in 26 additional games. He saw notable improvement in his possession and defensive metrics, but that’s understandable given his increased usage.

The Lincoln, MA native didn’t excel in any one area of his game this season. Still, he appeared to find some chemistry alongside center Alexander Wennberg this season. Graf spent much of his time in the NHL alongside Wennberg, with Tyler Toffoli or William Eklund operating on the opposite wing. Those line combinations were above average, producing a 62.2% xGoals% and a 52.5% xGoals%, respectively.

Still, although he played well, it can’t be overlooked that Graf didn’t offer much in point totals alongside some of the Sharks’ best offensive weapons. The obvious counterargument is that despite having some prominent forwards, San Jose’s offense is one of the worst in the league, so any of Graf’s output, or lack thereof, should be taken with a grain of salt.

If he becomes the player he is in the AHL, the Sharks will have a quality secondary scorer in their midst. Graf has scored eight goals and 32 points in 35 games for AHL San Jose this season, which is good for seventh on the team in scoring. Now that the Barracuda appear headed for a First Round appearance in the 2025 Calder Cup playoffs, Graf will assist their efforts the rest of the way.

Toffoli Out With Lower-Body Injury

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  • Sharks winger Tyler Toffoli won’t play tonight against Calgary due to a lower-body injury, relays Max Miller of The Hockey News (Twitter link). He’s listed as out day-to-day.  Toffoli has had a strong first year in San Jose, tallying 28 goals and 22 assists, good for third on the team in points while leading the way in goals.  He’s expected to accompany the club on their upcoming four-game road trip so unlike his teammate Shakir Mukhamadullin whose season is over, Toffoli should be back before the campaign comes to an end next week.

Sharks Reassign Jimmy Schuldt In Possible Paper Move

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  • The San Jose Sharks have reassigned defenseman Jimmy Schuldt. Schuldt appeared in 10 minutes worth of San Jose’s March 29th loss to the New York Rangers. It was just his sixth NHL game this season and he once again failed to manage any scoring or penalties. Schuldt has also served as the captain of the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda this season, netting six goals and 20 points in 59 games with the club. It’s not yet clear if this move is simply a paper transaction. The Sharks learned on Monday that depth defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin will miss the remainder of the season with an upper-body injury. That could push the Sharks to shore up their AHL blue-line as the Barracuda push for a playoff spot, or it could reaffirm Schuldt’s spot as San Jose’s de facto depth defender through the end of the season. News over the next few days will make that distinction, and lock Schuldt into a hard-fought lineup role one way or another.

Sharks’ Shakir Mukhamadullin Out For Season, Quentin Musty Assigned To AHL

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4:00 PM: In additional news from the Meier trade return, star Sharks prospect Musty has been assigned to the AHL per Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. He will join the Barracuda for their final few games of the season and potential postseason run. Musty scored a dazzling 30 goals and 59 points in 33 games with the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves this season. His year staggered a bit due to a hand injury suffered in November that forced Musty out of roughly two months of action. But he returned with intent – scoring five points in his first game back from injury and scoring 42 points in 25 games since the start of 2025. Musty is a power-forward with a great drive down the boards and a powerful shot. He’ll slot in as a high-upside addition to the Sharks’ depths for the rest of the season.

3:00 PM: The San Jose Sharks received bad news from their depth on Monday, when the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda announced that defense prospect Shakir Mukhamadullin will miss the rest of the season with an upper-body injury, per Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now. This will include any potential run in the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs, which the Barracuda seem comfortably headed towards.

Mukhamadullin’s second full season in North American pros will come to an end with quiet results. He recorded nine points in each of the NHL and AHL, reaching the mark in 30 games with the Sharks and 21 with the Barracuda. His NHL scoring included the first two goals of Mukhamadullin’s career, after he managed just one assist in the first three games of his NHL career last season. He scored a much more stout 34 points in 55 AHL games last year. That performance lined up far closer to Mukhamadullin’s break-in to the AHL in 2022-23, when he scored 10 points in 12 games after joining the Barracuda following the end of the KHL season.

Mukhamadullin was an accomplished and young Russian pro in his years before San Jose. His six-foot-four frame lent itself to pro opportunity early on, and earned Mukhamadullin his KHL rookie season at the age of 18. He recorded just one assist in 27 games with Ufa that season – enough to convince the New Jersey Devils to draft him 20th overall in the ensuing NHL Draft, but still an indication of room to grow. Mukhamadullin took the steps towards that growth in his second KHL season, growing to 10 points in 39 games. He staggered back to seven points in 34 games in year three, but followed it with a career-high 25 points in 67 games of the 2022-23 KHL season. Partway through that season, New Jersey traded Mukhamadullin to the Sharks as part of the blockbuster deal that sent Timo Meier to the Devils. Winger Fabian Zetterlund and the first-round pick to select Quentin Musty joined Mukhamadullin in the move out West.

Much of the Sharks’ defensive future seemed staked on Mukhamadullin last season. But other top prospects have joined the pro flanks this season, and hot-scorer Luca Cagnoni has seemingly taken over the title of top defense prospect. That takes some heavy weight off of Mukhamadullin’s back as he looks to recover from a difficult shoulder injury. He’s a smooth-moving puck-handler who’s shown prowess at getting the puck across both blue lines and creating chances. Next season will need to bring a wave of good health and returned scoring should Mukhamadullin was to hold his standing in the Sharks organization.

Sharks' AHL Affiliate Release Rem Pitlick

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  • The San Jose Sharks’ AHL affiliate announced the release of veteran Rem Pitlick today. Pitlick appeared in 18 games for the San Jose Barracuda this season, picking up two goals and 13 points along the way. A veteran of five NHL seasons, Pitlick’s best results occurred during the 2021-22 campaign, where he registered 15 goals and 37 points in 66 contests split between the Minnesota Wild and Montreal Canadiens. In 132 career NHL games, Pitlick has picked up 21 goals and 54 points, while adding an additional 138 points in the AHL. Originally a 2016 third round selection of the Nashville Predators, Pitlick will look for another opportunity to make his way back into the NHL.

San Jose Sharks Reassign Gabriel Carriere

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Apr. 4th: Unfortunately, Carriere’s first recall will end without his NHL debut, as the Sharks have reassigned him back to AHL San Jose.

Apr. 3rd: The Sharks announced they’ve recalled goaltender Gabriel Carriere from AHL San Jose. He’ll back up Georgi Romanov tonight against the Oilers while starter Alexandar Georgiev is scratched due to an upper-body injury, head coach Ryan Warsofsky told reporters (including Max Miller of The Hockey News).

Carriere’s first NHL recall comes weeks after his first NHL contract. The 24-year-old Ottawa native got a two-way deal from the Sharks on deadline day to make him recall-eligible for the remainder of 2024-25. He’s been in their system on an AHL contract since the end of last season, when he signed as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Vermont.

The Sharks needed another goaltender under contract after trading backup Vítek Vaněček to the Panthers last month, and top prospect Yaroslav Askarov remains unavailable due to the lower-body injury he suffered while on an AHL assignment in mid-February. His absence is drawing to a close soon, though. Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News confirmed today that Askarov traveled with the Sharks’ farm team on their road trip and should make his return in the coming days.

That paves the way for Carriere to see his name on an NHL roster and earn a big-league paycheck for the day, although he’s unlikely to see game action. It’s still been a promising season for Carriere, who was quite good while on assignment to ECHL Wichita to begin the season until his services were needed in the AHL following Askarov’s injury. He posted a 2.60 GAA, .922 SV%, three shutouts, and a 14-9-2 record in 25 appearances for Wichita. Things haven’t gone as well in the AHL with the Barracuda, where Carriere has a .893 SV% and 3.13 GAA in 19 showings with an 8-8-3 record.

Carriere will be a restricted free agent this summer with arbitration rights. He’s likely done well enough in the ECHL to earn a qualifying offer from San Jose, but that remains to be seen. Askarov, who signed a two-year, $4MM extension when the Sharks acquired him from the Predators last August, is the only goaltender under contract with San Jose for next season. He’s a virtual lock for their opening night roster after again excelling in the AHL and looking strong in his NHL viewings this year (.896 SV%, 1.7 GSAx, 3.10 GAA in 13 GP).

Injury Notes: Tkachuk, Guenther, Thrun, Penguins

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The Ottawa Senators will be without team captain Brady Tkachuk for a second straight game on Thursday night per Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen. Senators head coach Travis Green told Garrioch that there was no update on Tkachuk’s injury after his first missed game. The top-line forward continues to carry a day-to-day injury designation after sustaining an upper-body injury in the overtime period of Ottawa’s Sunday’s loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Ottawa suffered a tough 5-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres without Tkachuk on Tuesday. Fabian Zetterlund held onto a top-line role, and David Perron into a second-line role, in Tkachuk’s absence. Perron has managed four goals and five points over his last 10 games, while Zetterlund has recorded just one assist – hardly enough to make up for Tkachuk’s 11 points in 15 games since the start of march. The Senators’ captain is up to 29 goals and 55 points in 71 games on the season. Tkachuk is on pace for 64 points on the season – which would be the lowest he’s scored since breaking out with 67 points in the 2021-22 campaign. But even in a down year, the Senators will need to find a way to make up for Tkachuk’s net-front presence in his absence. They currently have a firm grip of the Eastern Conference’s first Wild Card.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Utah Hockey Club forward Dylan Guenther is going to stick in the lineup despite breaking his nose in Tuesday night’s loss to the Florida Panthers, shares Belle Fraser of the Salt Lake Tribune. Guenther took a puck to the face but opted to play through Tuesday’s game, telling Fraser after that his nose is a far away from his legs after the game. He added earlier today that he had to get nine stitches and that his breathing is at about 70 percent, but neither fact will hold him out of the lineup on Thursday. Guenther has three points in his last five games, and a dazzling 26 goals and 52 points in 63 games this season. He stands as Utah’s leading goal scorer – at the young age of 21 – and should continue to contribute to Utah’s playoff race. Utah currently sits nine points out of the Western Conference’s second Wild Card, with one game in hand.
  • San Jose Sharks defenseman Henry Thrun has confirmed that he’ll be returning to the lineup on Thursday, per Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now. Thrun has been out of the lineup since February 27th with an upper-body injury, save for making a spot start on March 8th where he reaggravated his injury. Thrun was finding his NHL legs in the games leading up to his injury, and even played in a career-high 24 minutes of action in San Jose’s February 24th loss to the Winnipeg Jets. He’s recorded 10 points, 30 penalty minutes, and a minus-16 in 52 games this season. Those marks fall just narrowly shy of his 11 points, 16 penalty minutes, and a minus-22 in 51 games last season. Thrun is expected to return to San Jose’s third pair alongside veteran Marc-Edouard Vlasic on Thursday.
  • The Pittsburgh Penguins embarked on a three-game road trip on Thursday. They brought with them star Evgeni Malkin, who hasn’t played since March 23rd, while leaving behind Thomas Novak and Pierre-Olivier Joseph, per Penguins play-by-play voice Josh Getzoff. The pair of depth skaters will be forced to miss the next few games with undisclosed injuries. In the meantime, Malkin will look to make his return on Pittsburgh’s final multi-game road trip of the season. He’s continued to be a force in the Penguins lineup, with 15 goals and 46 points in 62 games this season. That’s the lowest scoring pace of Malkin’s career, though he still ranks fifth on the team in total scoring. Of the missing duo, only Joseph has managed a point – netting one assist in 24 games -while Novak has no scoring in two games with Pittsburgh. With two holes to fill, Pittsburgh is expected to enter Joona Koppanen and Ryan Shea back into the lineup.

Sharks Recall Jack Thompson

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The San Jose Sharks have made their corresponding recall after reassigning two skaters earlier this morning. The team has called up rookie defenseman Jack Thompson from the AHL. Thompson is in the midst of a hot streak in the minors, having recorded five points, a plus-two, and 11 shots on goal over his last four games. He will now return to the NHL for the first time since being reassigned to the minors on March 6th.

Thompson’s playing time this season has been nearly perfectly split between the major and minor league rosters. He made the Sharks lineup out of training camp and recorded three points in his first three games of the season. That was enough to hold onto San Jose’s extra defender role through mid-December, but Thompson was reassigned to the minors after netting just five total points through his first 14 games of the NHL season. He quickly adjusted to the minors and scored nine points across 16 games.

With San Jose’s blue-line in flux around the turn of the year, Thompson’s hot scoring quickly made him the Sharks’ de facto call-up. he bounced between the NHL and AHL lineups through January, February, and March. The frequent movements coincided with Thompson netting just one point – an NHL goal – through 18 combined games between January 27th and March 19th. His recent scoring streak has marked a resurgence from that slump, and the Sharks will now reward Thompson’s resilience with a return to the top flight.

Thompson should step directly into the lineup after Cagnoni was reassigned. He could be in store for an immediate top-four role ahead of left-shot defender Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who has spent the last few games playing on his off-hand. Those minutes could soon sap up, though, as more fellow blue-liners Henry Thrun, Vincent Desharnais, and Jimmy Schuldt work their way back from injuries of varying severity.

Sharks Reassign Luca Cagnoni, Patrick Giles

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The Sharks have reassigned defenseman Luca Cagnoni and forward Patrick Giles to AHL San Jose, reports Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. The moves indicate fellow rearguard Vincent Desharnais is likely to return tomorrow from the upper-body injury that’s kept him out of the last two games, while sending down Giles gets San Jose back down to 14 healthy forwards on the active roster after signing Cameron Lund out of college earlier this month.

Cagnoni returns to the Barracuda after receiving his first career recall on March 18. The 5’9″ lefty is receiving NHL ice time ahead of schedule after being selected in the fourth round less than two years ago. Still, he’s forced his way into consideration amid a standout offensive rookie campaign in the minors. The 20-year-old had 13-31–47 through 56 AHL games before getting called up, ranking second on the team in scoring.

His NHL debut went about as well as expected. He suited up in a couple of blowout losses but managed an even rating in last night’s 8-1 drubbing at the hands of the Kings. He posted one assist through five games but was extremely involved offensively, posting seven shots on goal and 23 shot attempts. Averaging 17:37 per game, his 4.60 shot attempts per game rank fourth on San Jose this season behind Macklin Celebrini, the since-traded Jake Walman, and Tyler Toffoli. It was difficult to gauge his defensive impact in sheltered minutes, but early returns on his play-driving ability are good.

Giles, acquired from the Panthers for Vítek Vaněček earlier this month, gets demoted for the first time since the move. The 25-year-old Maryland native was a healthy scratch for the first time in his Sharks tenure last night, so it’s not unforeseen. He has a goal in eight games in a San Jose uniform, his first NHL point after going scoreless in nine games with Florida to begin the year. The 6’5″ pivot continues to struggle in the faceoff dot, winning 38% of his draws since the trade, so his utility down the middle remains limited and doesn’t make him the most appealing bottom-six option for the Sharks at present. He had just 5-2–7 in 39 games with AHL Charlotte before the trade, so the Barracuda shouldn’t be expecting a meaningful offensive impact from Giles down the stretch.

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