SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks made a pair of transactions before their game Monday against the Utah Mammoth, placing defenseman Vincent Desharnais on injured reserve and recalling winger Pavol Regenda from the Barracuda of the AHL.
Desharnais, who had become one of the Sharks’ top penalty-killing defenseman, has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury after he last played on Nov. 26 when the Sharks lost 6-0 to the Colorado Avalanche.
Desharnais, who had been dealing with his injury for some time, will also miss Wednesday’s home game against the Washington Capitals. But Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky was optimistic Desharnais could return to the lineup at some point during the team’s upcoming five-game road trip, which begins Friday and ends Dec. 13.
After a slow start with the Barracuda, Regenda now has seven points in 19 AHL games this season. He had a strong case to make the Sharks roster out of training camp after he had five points in three preseason games, but was placed on waivers on Oct. 5 and assigned to the Barracuda the next day.
Sharks prospect wingers Igor Chernyshov and Quentin Musty are both playing well for the Barracuda, with a combined 17 goals and 37 points in 20 games so far. But the Sharks wanted to add some size and a player better suited to play a fourth-line role, and it appears the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Regenda will start Monday’s game on the fourth line with Barclay Goodrow and Ryan Reaves.
“In a perfect world, you don’t really want to call up one of those young guys and put them on a line where they can’t maybe get to their tool set,” Warsofsky said. “So there’s a little bit of that for sure.”
Regenda added, “I’m playing with a pretty heavy line, so I’m just trying to … play a simple game, be physical. Don’t do anything crazy, don’t do anything stupid. Just play a simple, north game. That’s what I’m going to focus on.”
Please check for updates to this story.