What Are Bystedt, Cagnoni & Graf’s Plans This Summer? How Will They Get Better?

Collin Graf, Filip Bystedt, and Luca Cagnoni didn’t just develop in the AHL this season, they helped propel the San Jose Sharks’ minor league affiliate to a playoff berth.

Bystedt had a solid first full pro regular season with the San Jose Barracuda and took another step in the playoffs.

Cagnoni was the first Barracuda player named to the AHL All-Rookie team since Danny O’Regan in 2016-17.

Graf was a go-to forward for the Cuda in all situations, and impressed in the NHL too.

Here’s how each top prospect plans to take that momentum into the summer.

Filip Bystedt

Filip Bystedt got better and better this year.

After 12 goals and 31 points in 50 regular season games, he was tied for the Barracuda playoff team lead with three goals, in the absence of No. 1 center Andrew Poturalski.

The 6-foot-2 center credited a growing confidence throughout this campaign: “When you’re confident, you’re just able to play your game. A little bit more loose and more comfortable with the puck.”

So what’s in store for Bystedt this summer? The 2022 first-round pick is trying to make his NHL debut and secure a bottom-six center spot with the San Jose Sharks this fall.

In smaller North American rinks, Bystedt said it will be important for him to be quicker with his feet and generate stronger bursts. While that will be a focus this off-season, the Swede knows he needs to improve more than that: “I’ve said every single time, everything has to be better.”

Bystedt says he’ll train in Stockholm and Gothenburg with the likes of Jesper Bratt, William Eklund, and other NHL’ers this summer.

He also says he’ll try to catch the World Championships in Stockholm this year, if he can get a ticket, he joked.

Luca Cagnoni

Luca Cagnoni knows that he had a special season.

The 2023 fourth-round pick, in his first pro season, had 16 goals and 52 points.

The 5-foot-9 defenseman also earned a seven-game audition with the San Jose Sharks.

“I saw a tweet that I was…the first defensemen from my draft class [to debut in the NHL],” the 20-year-old said. “You hear those kind of facts, being a fourth-round pick, it’s a pretty special moment for me and my family.”

So what’s the next step for the boy wonder? He talked about what he’s improved on this year, and what he needs to continue getting better at.

“The defensive side has improved a lot,” he said. “It’s another step from junior, bigger guys, they’re pros here. Moving my feet on breakouts, guys are on you so quick here, even in the NHL, everything happens so fast. You’ve got to be on your toes at all times.”

This summer, Cagnoni will return to hometown Vancouver and train with the same group he trained with last year, a group that included Connor Bedard, Mat Barzal, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. He might see fellow Vancouverite Macklin Celebrini too.

“Definitely still want to get faster, quicker, stronger,” he said. ” Keep on working on my shot.”

Collin Graf

Collin Graf took a leap this year, playing 33 games with the San Jose Sharks and taking on a regular penalty-killing role. So what will he do to improve this off-season?

While Graf didn’t specify what he’d be concentrating on individually in his exit interview, Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky has previously noted that Graf came into training camp last fall with a strikingly different physique.

Graf noted something else that helped him. The Quinnipiac product, signed by San Jose in Apr. 2024, suited up for seven games at the end of the 2023-24 campaign.

“[Those games] gave me an idea of what I needed to work on, what I need to get better at,” the 22-year-old winger said. “I was used to the college speed of things…that helped me maybe be able to process things quicker and make plays quicker and know you don’t have enough time. You don’t have as much time as you did in college.”

Graf anticipates he will train alongside teammates and fellow Massachusetts natives Will Smith and Henry Thrun at home this summer, and play with them in a local 3-on-3 league.

Graf also offered advice to the next crop of Sharks youngsters like Cam Lund, Quentin Musty, and Igor Chernyshov: “The biggest thing is that it’s really no days off [in pro hockey]…In college, you get Sunday through Thursday to recover, game plan for stuff, make your body feel better.”