Less than 12 hours after a flat 2-0 loss to Buffalo, the Sharks made a round of roster moves Wednesday that brought in a first-round pick and reshuffled their depth chart.
San Jose recalled center Filip Bystedt and defenseman Libor Hajek from the Barracuda, while sending defenseman Luca Cagnoni back to the AHL. To open room for the additions, the Sharks also placed center Alexander Wennberg and winger Igor Chernyshov on injured reserve. Both are week-to-week with upper-body injuries.
Bystedt, taken by the Sharks in the first round of the 2022 draft, has put together eight points in eight games with the Barracuda this season. He could be in line to make his NHL debut as soon as Thursday, when the Sharks host the Vancouver Canucks. In the AHL, he has totaled 106 points in 131 career games, including 60 points in 65 games last season, which made him the Barracuda’s top scorer.
Hajek arrives as a defenseman with a more defensive profile. He has two points in eight games with the Barracuda and spent most of the past three seasons in the Czech League before signing a one-year, two-way contract with San Jose in July. He also logged 110 games with the New York Rangers from 2019 to 2022.
The shakeup comes on the heels of a frustrating night against the Sabres, who outshot the Sharks 41-23 and handed them their first shutout of the season. San Jose tried new forward lines and defense pairs, but the results were uneven and the team spent too much time on its heels.
After opening the year 3-1-0, the Sharks are now 6-6-1 and have dropped four of their last six.
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