SAN JOSE >> Defenseman Luca Cagnoni had just stepped off the plane in San Jose after a pair of games in Tucson when he saw that he had received a text message from Jimmy Schuldt, the Barracuda captain who had just finished a short stint with the Sharks.

“Go light it up,” Schuldt wrote.

That was how Cagnoni, one of the AHL’s top offensive defensemen this season, found out he was going to the NHL for the first time, as the Sharks recalled their prolific 2023 fourth-round draft pick and returned Schuldt to the Barracuda after he played four games.

“My heart was beating all last night, and it was actually kind of hard to sleep,” Cagnoni said Tuesday. “Just super happy to be up here.”

In his first practice with the Sharks, the 5-foot-9. 180-pound Cagnoni on Tuesday was paired with 6-foot-7, 226-pound Vincent Desharnais. He also skated on the Sharks’ top power-play unit with forwards Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith, Tyler Toffoli and Alexander Wennberg.

“He can move, that’s for sure. He’s a little water bug out there,” Desharnais said of Cagnoni, who reminded him of his former Providence teammate, Buffalo Sabres defenseman Jacon Bryson, who is 5-foot-9 and 177 pounds.

“Short, but really fast. Can make some really nice plays,” Desharnais added. “That’s kind of what we just talked about. Let me do the heavy lifting, and then just make sure that your boots are moving and you make some nice plays. I’ll take care of the physicality.”

Cagnoni’s promotion was hardly a surprise given how well he has played in the AHL and the state of the Sharks, who wanted to give the British Columbia native a taste of the NHL with one month to go before the end of the regular season.

In his first year of professional hockey, the 20-year-old Cagnoni is second among all AHL defensemen with 47 points in 56 games. Nine of his 13 goals with the Barracuda have come on the power play, with his skills on the man advantage a significant reason why he had 18 points in his first 18 pro games.

“It gives me a lot of confidence,” Cagnoni said of being added to the first power play unit. “I’ve just got to go out there and prove that I belong there. That’s what it comes down to.”