SAN JOSE >> Andrew Poturalski figured he would get to play with the rebuilding Sharks at some point this season. He just didn’t know when.

But only a few hours after the Sharks traded center Mikael Granlund and defenseman Cody Ceci the Dallas Stars, Poturalski, a veteran of 509 AHL regular season games and that league’s leading scorer this year, found out Saturday night that he was going back to the NHL after more than a full season away.

“It’s tough to sleep at night when you know the opportunity is coming, and it’s something that you work for all the time and play the game for,” Poturalski said Tuesday before the Sharks played the Montreal Canadiens at SAP Center.

“Can’t say enough about how excited I am for this opportunity.”

This chance is the biggest Poturalski, 31, has ever received in the NHL. Mainly used as a fourth-line forward in his previous six NHL games, Poturalski, a native of Western New York, not only made his Sharks debut Tuesday but also did so as the team’s second-line center.

“I think he’s a guy who can play in that role because he can play with the puck and make plays,” said Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky, who first coached Poturalski in 2018-2019 with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. “I don’t know if he’s ever gotten this type of opportunity, and I think he’s deserved this opportunity. And I’m not just saying that because I’ve known him for a long time.

“Usually, when he goes up, he’s playing that fourth-line center role, and that’s not really the role where he can succeed. So we’ve got to put him in a position to succeed, give him an opportunity, and see what we can do with it.”

Two huge voids in the Sharks’ lineup were created after the team sent Granlund and Ceci to the Stars for a first-round draft pick and a conditional third-round pick this year.

While Ceci anchored the Sharks’ penalty kill, was second among all skaters in average time on ice, and led the team in blocked shots, Granlund was San Jose’s do-everything forward, as he played in all situations and usually faced the opposing team’s top line and defense pair.

Before the trade, Granlund was the Sharks’ leading scorer this year with 45 points in 52 games.

Poturalski is being asked to take up at least some of that slack as the Sharks are also without veteran centerman Alexander Wennberg, who missed his second straight game on Tuesday with an upper-body injury. Warsofsky said the earliest Wennberg could return is Saturday, when San Jose hosts the Stars in the last game before the NHL breaks for the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Prior to his recall, Poturalski led the AHL with 45 points in 41 games this season, helping the Barracuda get off to its best start in years.

Such success in the AHL is nothing new. Before signing a two-year, two-way contract with the Sharks last July, Poturalski helped the Coachella Valley Firebirds reach the finals of the Calder Cup playoffs. He has 465 career regular-season points in the AHL and 73 points in 81 playoff games.

Warsofsky also coached Poturalski in 2021-22, when the two won a Calder Cup together with the Chicago Wolves. Poturalski and goalie Yaroslav Askarov just represented the Barracuda in the AHL All-Star Classic on Sunday and Monday in Palm Desert.

“He’s a winner,” Warsofsky said of Poturalski. “He’s got a confidence about himself. He’s got some swagger. He can make plays. So we’re excited to get him up here.”

Still, it’ll be a massive challenge for the Sharks to replace Granlund, who had played in a top-six role for the team since his arrival in San Jose before the 2023-24 season.

In his six previous NHL games — four with the Carolina Hurricanes and two with the Seattle Kraken — Poturalski averaged just 9:46 in ice time and collected two assists.

In his last NHL game on Nov. 30, 2023, Poturalski was on the fourth line and had just 6:03 in ice time in the Kraken’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“The opportunity (Warsofsky is) giving me is a really good one,” Poturalski said. “Just to have the familiarity with him and the fact that he trusts me to put me in that role is huge. I’m familiar with the systems, and I know what’s going on. Just got to execute and prove that I can play here at this level.”

Poturalski was expected to start Tuesday’s game on a line with Fabian Zetterlund and Will Smith on his wings.

NOTABLE >> The Sharks, who have five players on injured reserve right now, also recalled forward Collin Graf and defenseman Shakir Mukhamadullin from the Barracuda on Monday. Forward Nikolai Kovalenko (upper body) is not on IR but is not expected to return until later this month after the NHL resumes its regular season schedule.