The San Jose Sharks have claimed defenseman Vincent Iorio off of waivers, taking the 22-year-old right-shot defenseman out of the Washington Capitals system. Iorio will join the Sharks in Utah today, possibly solving one of the team’s immediate problems and creating an issue for a later date.
Yesterday morning, the Sharks place Timothy Liljegren on injured reserve, taking one of the team’s right-shot defensemen out of the lineup. Then, when John Klingberg, another of the team’s right-shot defensemen stepped onto the ice and tried to skate things “didn’t go great,” according to San Jose Hockey Now’s Sheng Peng.
Warsofsky said Klingberg tried to skate this morning, didn't go great, so he's doubtful.
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) October 16, 2025
Didn't have a more exact timeline for Liljegren's injury, said they'll see how he is after this weekend
With few options, the Sharks decided that pulling someone off of waivers was a better option than calling someone up from the Barracuda.
What this says about the Sharks depth chart
This move is interesting because it says something about the Sharks’ depth chart, especially on the right side. San Jose had the opportunity to call up another player, specifically Jack Thompson, to fill the gap on the right side of the blueline. But instead of doing that, the Sharks decided to take a player like Iorio off of waivers.
Thompson never truly stood out in camp and the Sharks actively went out and acquired several players who could play on the right side in the offseason. The team has brought in Dmitry Orlov, Nick Leddy, John Klingberg and Vincent Desharnais in the past nine months. All of them seem to have surpassed Thompson on the depth chart.
Pulling Iorio off waivers seems to indicate that the defenseman would also surpass Thompson, at least for the time being.
But this isn’t just an indication on where Thompson is as a player, it’s also an indication of where the Sharks are as an orgainzation on the right side. It’s an issue that fans have noticed and it’s becoming a problem. With the San Jose Barracuda, the most likely place that the Sharks would turn to in order to find the next call up in the event of injury, there are two other right shot defensemen besides Thompson.
There’s Mattias Havelid and Clayton Cole. John Gormley also played on the right side for the Barracuda against the Bakersfield Condors last week, but he’s not under contract with the Sharks, so he’d need to sign with the Sharks to be called up.
In other words, other than Thompson, the Sharks don’t have a lot of options on the right side at this point. And since it feels like Thompson has fallen to ninth on the depth chart, possibly even tenth at this point, it’s likely he’s on his way out.
What are the Sharks getting in Iorio?
Let’s start out with size. Iorio is a big guy. He’s 6-foot-4, 220 pounds. He was originally selected by the Washington Capitals in the second round (55th overall) in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. Iorio played nine career NHL games with the Caps, but hasn’t really solidified himself in the NHL. He’s mostly played in the AHL with the Hershey Bears, where he had 20 points (5 G, 15 A) in 67 games last season.
Smmi Silber, the Capitals beat reporter for The Hockey News, called Iorio a “good skater” with “good awareness at both ends” who “makes a good first pass,” but she pointed out that given the Caps’ current status on the blueline, there simply wasn’t space for Iorio as an eighth defenseman.
Meantime, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic has Iorio topping out as a third-pairing NHL defenseman, calling him “a long, athletic righty who skates well, owns the neutral zone against the rush and has learned to play an efficient, ‘turn-and-move-it’ style.”
Wheeler says: “He has always done a good job walking the line to get pucks through traffic to the net. Those little elements of his game are just executed with such consistency. I’ve also seen him stretch the ice with outlets and use his long stride to lead the rush or join in transition as an option. And while his game does lack some creativity and finesse, he’s got the makings of a reliable, complementary depth defenseman or a No. 7-8 at minimum. His game has translated nicely in the AHL the last three seasons, too, playing to strong defensive results. He’s certainly got the frame/build/athleticism/skating of an NHLer.”
Conclusion
General Manager Mike Grier has not hidden the fact that he has a type he goes for on defense. He likes defensemen who can skate and are big. Iorio has three inches and 30 pounds on Thompson. What’s more, Thompson has had a couple of years to take a spot on the blueline, but he’s never done anything exceptional to prove he’s anything more than okay.
There’s potential in Thompson’s game, yes, but he’s got to lay it all out there if he wants to stick. So far, he hasn’t done that and now, he may be out of chances.
