Tonight, the San Jose Sharks will witness the NHL debuts of Georgi Romanov and Luca Cagnoni. Goalie Romanov has a solid track record with a 1.81 goals against average in prior minutes played. Meanwhile, Cagnoni, a promising young defenseman from the 2023 draft, comes off an impressive AHL season, ranking second among defensemen in scoring. He has been preparing with additional practices to settle in, while receiving support from veteran Desharnais. Family and friends will be cheering for him from the stands, adding to the excitement of his first game experience.
Cagnoni is expected to be paired with Vincent Desharnais, a 6-foot-7 defenseman who more than makes up for Cagnoni's 5-foot-9 stature. He's also getting some advice from Desharnais, who has played in this league for a few seasons now. "Couple things from the D. Vinnie, my partner, just telling me to communicate because it's obviously tough just jumping in and just playing with the new guys and stuff, so just trying to talk that out," said Cagnoni. "A lot of people saying just have fun with it, just play my game."
It’s been nice to have a couple of practices, calm my nerves, get used to the guys again. It’s been a while since training camp," Cagnoni told our Annie Moore after this morning's practice.
His parents, sister and some family friends will be in the stands tonight. Cagnoni's roommates, Jake Furlong and Braden Hache, are also expected to be there as well as some other Barracuda players.
Romanov has played in NHL games before. He has 99:15 minutes in his career and a very respectable 1.81 goals against average and .927 save percentage. That said, this will be his first career start.
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