When the San Jose Sharks traded Erik Karlsson in the lead up to training camp, Mario Ferraro instantly became the Sharks’ best defenseman. The 25-year-old had more NHL games played than a majority of the Sharks defensive corps and was still young enough to log those heavy minutes that a veteran defenseman like Marc-Edouard Vlasic could no longer maintain.
Whether deservedly or not, Ferraro was considered San Jose’s number one defenseman.
Ferraro’s 2023-24 production
Ferraro played 78 games this season, a career-high, and outscored all of San Jose’s other defensemen.
Games Played | G | A | Pts | +/- | TOI/G |
78 | 3 | 18 | 21 | -38 | 22:52 |
In fact, Ferraro had career highs in almost every category this season. While his three goals did not beat his career high of four last season, his 21 points and 18 assists were both highs.
He also led the Sharks in ice time this season with 1783:49 minutes, nearly 400 minutes more than the next defenseman on the list, Kyle Burroughs. It was more than 200 minutes more than he played last season.
Ferraro’s time on ice was 32nd among defensemen league-wide, more than the Edmonton Oilers’ Darnell Nurse, the Carolina Hurricanes’ Brent Burns, the New Jersey Devils’ Luke Hughes and the Dallas Stars’ Miro Heiskanen.
Ferraro’s impact on San Jose’s defense
Despite logging heavy minutes on the worst team in the league, Ferraro still had an okay season statistically.

As you can see from his regularized-adjusted plus-minus (RAPM) chart from Evolving-Hockey, Ferraro held his own at even strength. Even though he had a rotating cast of defensive partners and was often put on the ice against a team’s top line, Ferraro was up to the task.
When you look at the goals above replacement (GAR) chart for San Jose’s defensemen, you see that he was the most effective defenseman on the Sharks.

He did well at even strength on both offense and defense, much better than his play on special teams.
Ferraro continued to sacrifice his body
Like last season, Ferraro was once again willing to put his body on the line at every turn. This season he had 195 blocked shots, good enough for seventh in the NHL, according to Evolving-Hockey. Colton Parayko led the league with 218 blocked shots.
What’s more, this was another career high for Ferraro. Last season, he blocked 145 shots with his body. The season before that, it was 151. While Ferraro has always been willing to lay his body on the line to prevent a goal, this season was above and beyond those seasons past.
Much better offensively than last season
Last year in our season review, we took a hard look at Ferraro’s game and his individual points percentage (IPP). We found that not only was he below the 30-40 range that you want from a defenseman who plays the number of minutes that Ferraro does, but he was also steadily declining, as you can see from the chart below.

This season, Ferraro made a huge swing in the positive direction.
Ferraro’s IPP this season was 33.33 in all situations, according to Natural Stat Trick. Not only is that in the range that we’re looking for, but it’s much higher than the 21.57 IPP he registered last season and the highest IPP in his career, even better than the season that he was paired with Brent Burns.
Ferraro was 157th in IPP out of the 167 defensemen who played 1,000 minutes more in the 2022-23 season. This season, he’s 102nd in IPP out of 162 among defensemen who played 1,000 minutes or more. That’s the same level as players like the Dallas Stars’ Esa Lindell, Edmonton Oilers’ Vincent Desharnais and Winnipeg’s Dylan DeMelo.
Ferraro was more than carrying his weight for the Sharks offensively this season. While a good deal of this has to do with the fact that the Sharks were without players like Burns and Karlsson, it’s good to know that Ferraro, when asked, can step up a bit more offensively.
Ferraro’s future with the Sharks
Unless there’s a drastic change this offseason, Ferraro will still be considered San Jose’s number one defenseman in 2024-25. Jan Rutta is a reliable close second, but after that, no one’s really close. Shakir Mukhamadullin isn’t guaranteed a full season in the NHL, so he’s a wild card.
The point is, the Sharks need Ferraro desperately.
Luckily for the team, he’s signed through the 2025-26 season to a very affordable $3.25 million per season. A decision does not need to be made this upcoming season on whether to keep him or trade him.
That said, a decision should come sooner rather than later. Ferraro is not going to be a top pairing defenseman and the Sharks’ prospect pool is light on defense. As a result, it might best serve the Sharks to trade Ferraro while his stock is high and hopefully net a first-round draft pick or a young prospect who has yet to prove his potential.
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 and 2) played 20 or more games for San Jose this season.