SAN JOSE – Veteran defenseman Mario Ferraro wants to play in the playoffs and he wants to do it with the San Jose Sharks.
“That’s a dream of mine, is to be able to play playoff hockey in this jersey,” Ferraro said Sunday, a day after the Sharks traded Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci to the Dallas Stars. “That day is coming. Some people may not see it this way, but I think it’s coming a lot sooner than people think.”
But whether Ferraro makes his playoff debut with the Sharks, who entered Thursday in last place in the NHL’s overall standings, or has to do it somewhere else is not totally within his control.
With the NHL trade deadline on March 7 now a month away, Ferraro’s name is again resurfacing as a possible target for playoff-contending teams. The minute-munching left-shot defenseman is in the third year of a four-year, $13 million contract with a $3.25 million cap hit and no trade protection. Ferraro, 26, can become an unrestricted free agent once the deal expires in 2026.
Late last month, before a recent spate of trades, including the Stars’ acquisition of Granlund and Ceci from the Sharks, The Athletic recently had Ferraro at No. 30 on its most recent trade board. The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta wrote recently that Sharks are listening on Ferraro, with the Colorado Avalanche potentially in the mix for his services. A Ferraro trade to Denver would reunite him with his former UMass-Amherst teammate Cale Makar.
Ferraro, now in his sixth NHL season and the team’s third longest-tenured player behind defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and captain Logan Couture, was also the subject of trade rumors last season with nothing happening.
“To me, I take it as a good sign that I must be playing well or doing something right if my name is out there and teams wonder about me,” Ferraro told Bay Area News Group this week. “That’s what I use to fuel my fire and continue to play hard.
“I block that stuff out. I’m here. I’m a Shark. This is my job, and I’m excited to be here, and every chance I get to play with this jersey, I’m pumped up inside. So I don’t think about that stuff other than to give me some fuel and some more energy.”
With Ferraro’s deal walking him right to free agency, the rebuilding Sharks might need to decide in the next 12-13 months whether to trade the Toronto native to a contender or offer him a contract extension.
The Sharks have a small glut of left-shot defensemen in Jake Walman and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who are also signed through next season, and Henry Thrun and Shakir Mukhamadullin, both of whom are pending restricted free agents under team control.
Ferraro, this season, has mainly been on the Sharks’ second defense pair, usually with Timothy Liljegren. Since the Ceci trade, though, Ferraro has been paired with Jack Thompson, and those two were expected to be together for Thursday’s game with the Vancouver Canucks at SAP Center. Liljegren is on the third pair with Mukhamadullin, and Thrun has replaced Ceci on San Jose’s top pair with Walman.
Before Thursday’s game, Ferraro had 11 points in 55 games and averaged 20:30 in ice time per night. His five goals this season is a new career best, and he and Walman will likely be the Sharks’ leading penalty killers and shot blockers now that Ceci is in Dallas.
“I think I’ve just gotten a little bit more consistent,” Ferraro said. “That’s a goal for me, is to be a reliable player that my coaches can trust putting me out there in situations, whether I need to defend or get pucks out in a d-zone draw or fuel some transition game and move pucks. That’s where I feel like I’ve grown, but I still feel like I have a lot to improve on.”
Ferraro, now in his third full season as a Sharks alternate captain, is also the team’s most boisterous player. When he’s not around, the Sharks locker room can be a pretty quiet place.
Ultimately, the Sharks and general manager Mike Grier must decide whether Ferraro fits into San Jose’s long-term future or whether the team is better off trading him for assets. Other players that could be on the move before the deadline are pending UFAs Luke Kunin, Nico Sturm, Jan Rutta, Alexandar Georgiev, and Vitek Vanecek.
Whatever happens, Ferraro will only be able to do so much.
“I’m excited about where this team is headed,” Ferraro said. “You can guess who we have in this locker room that’s really going to fuel that, and all it takes is a few guys lead to more, and the next thing you know, you’re in a position where you find yourself a lot more competitive than you were the years before.
“I’ve been here for six years, and we’re getting closer, and I am excited for what’s to come. I have to be positive. That’s who I am. I try to stay positive within myself. But I’m also a leader on this team, and we need everybody in this room to believe and everybody in this organization to believe, so it’s going to be an exciting place to play.”