Somewhere in the past three or four seasons, Mario Ferraro went from being the young rookie on a veteran blueline to the elder statesman. Ferraro, as of this writing, is the third-oldest defenseman under contract for the Sharks in the 2025-26 season. Only Vincent Desharnais (28) and Marc-Edouard Vlasic (38) are older.
Ferraro has swiftly moved into key roles with the Sharks, not only taking over in a leadership capacity but also moving into the role of top-pairing defenseman in a defensive corps that is, admittedly, sparse. Still, Ferraro has stepped up in the wake of this extra responsibility. He has not wavered in the face of media inquiries and he has worked hard to take on the toughest defensive matchups opponents have had to offer.
The growth in Ferraro as a person and as an NHL player has been immense and it should not be overlooked when it comes to addressing his value to a Sharks franchise that is in the process of re-shaping itself into a new Stanley Cup contender. He has pushed himself into San Jose’s captain conversation.
Ferraro’s 2024-25 production
Once again, Ferraro had a relatively healthy season. In his end of the season interview, he expressed frustration that he wasn’t able to play the full 82 games. He broke his ankle during the game against the Minnesota Wild on April 9, and while he didn’t need surgery, there was no reason for him to continue playing and injure himself further. Ferraro finished with 78 games played.
| Games Played | Goals | Assists | Points | +/- | Shooting % | TOI/Game |
| 78 | 5 | 12 | 17 | -25 | 6.3% | 21:24 |
Ferraro scored a career high five goals this past season, and while that’s certainly nothing to write home about, it’s an interesting stat in that he scored that many goals in fewer shots this year compared to last.
Last season, Ferraro took a career high 124 shots in 78 games but only scored three goals. This season, he took 45 fewer shots, but scored more goals.
And if you look at his shot selection courtesy of NHL Edge, you can see that he wasn’t doing anything much different from one season to the next; he simply scored more. His shooting percentage of 6.3% is more in line with the league’s defensemen than the 2023-24 season’s 2.4%.
Ferraro creating chances
Considering that Ferraro is not known for his offensive game, what he did last season in terms of generating scoring opportunities for the Sharks was very good.
Looking at his regularized-adjusted plus-minus chart courtesy of Evolving-Hockey, you can see that Ferraro’s expected goals for per 60 minutes was in the upper ranks of the league. In fact, according to Evolving-Hockey’s stats, of the 159 NHL defensemen that played 1,000 minutes or more last season, Ferraro was 76th in even-strength offense. Considering that San Jose had the lowest goals for per game in the league, that’s not a bad stat for Ferraro.
And of those 159 defensemen who played 1,000 minutes or more last season, Ferraro was 139th on the list in goals above replacement, better than the Vegas Golden Knights’ Nick Hague (140th), the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Kris Legang (143rd) and the Minnesota Wild’s Brock Faber (158).
Team leading stats
While Ferarro was not tops in the league by any means, he was tops on the Sharks. He played the most out of any of the players on the penalty kill. He was the only Sharks’ player, forward or defenseman, who played more than 200 minutes on the PK. Ferraro finished the season with the most ice time, despite missing the final four games of the season. In fact, his 1669.23 of ice time was 54th in the NHL.
What’s more, Ferraro led the Sharks in blocked shots once again with 125. He was second on the team in takeaways with 37, just one behind Alex Wennberg.
Ferraro’s defensive partner next season
As we talked about in Timothy Liljegren’s season review earlier this week, Ferraro spent the most ice time with Liljegren last season. The duo was paired together for 587 minutes at even strength, and they weren’t too bad on a team that ended the season with the worst goal differential in the league.
That said, as we explained in the Liljegren write-up, it feels like there is more that can be done if the team splits up Ferraro and Liljegren. Looking at the pairings, Ferraro was good with Liljegren, but he was even better with Jack Thompson.
| Pairing | TOI | G+/-/60 |
| Ferraro – Liljegren | 587 | -0.57 |
| Rutta – Ferraro | 256.5 | -2.15 |
| Ferraro – Mukhamadullin | 231.9 | -1.39 |
| Ceci – Ferraro | 117.5 | -2.61 |
| Thompson – Ferraro | 76.8 | 1.41 |
| Walman – Ferraro | 50.4 | -2.12 |
| Thrun – Ferraro | 49.2 | -1.62 |
Of all the pairings that Ferraro was a part of last season, the one that ended up in a positive goal differential was Ferraro and Thompson. That’s even considering that Ferrari played alongside seasoned “veterans” like Cody Ceci and Jan Rutta, as well as players with offensive upside like Jake Walman and Liljegren. Given this success, if Sam Dickinson doesn’t play with the Sharks next season, the team should give a longer look at a Thompson-Ferraro pairing.
What’s next for Ferraro?
Ferraro is entering the final season of a deal that pays him $3.25 million. He will be 27 when his contract expires in 2026, and then he’ll be an unrestricted free agent.
Ferraro’s name has floated around in trade circles for the last two seasons, but now it’s decision time for General Manager Mike Grier. At 27, this is the time when Ferraro will be looking for a longer-term contract, something that Grier, until recently, has been reluctant to hand out. Would Ferraro be willing to sign for six years or fewer, and would Grier be willing to go as high as six years? If the answer to either of those questions is no, then it’s likely that Ferraro will be traded before the deadline. If the answer is yes, then it’s possible that an extension is on the table. While Grier might be willing to hand out a deal in the eight-year range to a player like William Eklund, it feels like anything more than six years is off the table for Ferraro.
So far, there’s been no talk of a contract extension for Ferraro, something that has been discussed in the case of Eklund. That’s may also be an indication of which way the Sharks are leaning. It’s something for Sharks fans to keep an eye on as we get into training camp. Conversations about Ferraro’s future with the team are sure to come up quickly.
Editor’s Note: Over the next few weeks, we will be rolling out the player reviews for the San Jose Sharks. We realize there were a lot of guys rotating into and out of the lineup and some of the key depth players were traded. As a result, Fear the Fin plans to focus on the players who are 1) still with the Sharks even if they are not under contract at the moment and 2) played 20 or more games for San Jose this season.
