Another Uncertain Trade Deadline for Ferraro?

Mario Ferraro wants to be a member of the San Jose Sharks for life.

At this moment, however, San Jose Hockey Now doesn’t believe there’s been any substantial movement in negotiations between the pending UFA defenseman and the Sharks. Of course, that can change at the drop of a hat.

At last check, it appeared that the San Jose Sharks had made overtures of a short-term contract to Ferraro. Ferraro, 27, about to hit unrestricted free agency for the first time, would likely command a better deal on the open market though.

That chasm hasn’t been crossed yet.

If there isn’t any movement from now until the Mar. 6 Trade Deadline, that’s going to make for another stressful Deadline day for the Sharks lifer, who’s been a constant in trade rumors over the last few years. This is a much different Deadline than in past years for Ferraro though, not just because he’s a UFA for the first time. Ferraro and wife McKenna had their first child, Solenne, over the summer.

“I know it’s there. Everybody knows it’s coming up,” the 2017 San Jose second-round pick said of the Deadline. “But I’m just focused on playing.”

On one hand, Ferraro would certainly be in demand around the NHL. Past Trade Deadlines have suggested that the heart-and-soul stay-at-home blueliner would fetch a second-round pick, which sounds about right this year, too.

NHL Network’s Jason Demers opined to SJHN that Ferraro was roughly in the Connor Murphy bucket of defenseman. Murphy, also a pending UFA, was recently traded from the Chicago Blackhawks, with $2.2 AAV retained, to the Edmonton Oilers for a second-round pick.

Multiple NHL scouts have also told SJHN that they value the long-time San Jose alternate captain at about that range.

On the other hand, the surprising San Jose Sharks are just three points out of the final wild card spot in the Western Conference as of Mar. 3, and Ferraro has been a key to their success. Ferraro has played 20:52 a night, third among Sharks’ blueliners, behind Dmitry Orlov and John Klingberg, and he’s a first-choice penalty-killer, along with Vincent Desharnais.

“I’m just focused on being the best player that I can be to help this team win. I owe it to this team. I owe it to the fans, I owe it to myself too,” he said. “I’m just trying to play real well with the goal of making the playoffs here. And whatever happens, having that mindset, I believe will put myself in the best position and this team in the best position.”

As the organization stands right now, these are hard minutes that San Jose could not fill from within easily.

Grier has signaled, if the Sharks are in the playoff hunt, that he’s comfortable keeping his pending UFAs, to re-sign or lose them for nothing in the off-season.

“If we’re going well and things are good and we decide that we just roll through it and see what happens,” Grier said in January, “it’s something we’re prepared to do.”

Besides Ferraro, defensemen Klingberg, Desharnais, and Timothy Liljegren are also UFAs, as are winger Ryan Reaves and goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic.

San Jose could also extend Ferraro, like they did Kiefer Sherwood today, before the Trade Deadline, but that doesn’t seem likely at the moment. We’ll see what happens from now to Friday.