The Sharks have tweaked their roster in recent days and they continued that trend today, announcing the recalls of forwards Kyle Criscuolo and Danil Gushchin from AHL San Jose. With only 11 healthy forwards on the active roster, at least one of these promotions should be on an emergency basis. CapFriendly notes (Twitter link) that these recalls put them over the salary cap so an LTIR placement was needed, likely Luke Kunin who is out for the year with a knee injury.
Criscuolo is in his first season with San Jose after the Sharks acquired him from Detroit back in January. The change of scenery helped as the 30-year-old has been more productive since the swap, putting up ten goals and five assists in 26 games with the Barracuda after being limited to five goals and five helpers in 28 games with Grand Rapids. Criscuolo, a pending unrestricted free agent, does have 15 career NHL games under his belt, six of which came last season with Detroit where he picked up his first two points, both assists.
As for Gushchin, the 21-year-old is in his first full season in the pros after spending last season with OHL Niagara where he had 71 points in 51 contests. The points haven’t been as easy to come by with the Barracuda but Gushchin does sit tied for fourth on the team in scoring with 16 goals and 20 helpers in 66 appearances, a decent rookie campaign. He still has two years left after this one on his entry-level deal.