This article will be another in my series of player profiles, where I’ll look at each player on the San Jose Sharks and assess how their season went. This article will focus on Mario Ferraro.
This was a solid rookie season for Ferraro, especially considering it was his first year of professional hockey in general, after jumping right from the NCAA to the NHL. That may be difficult to tell by looking at his two goals and 11 points in 61 games this season, but his role isn’t to add points.
Ferraro was also playing under 16 minutes per game, which was less ice time than every other defender on the team who played at least 40 games this season. He was used in a fairly defensive role as well and had the third-highest defensive zone start percentage of any defenseman on the team, which can explain his relatively low corsi for percentage of 48.8 per cent.
The Sharks’ on-ice save percentage while Ferraro was on the ice was wildly low, at just .856. This can explain why Ferraro had such a low goals for percentage of just 39 per cent. His expected goals for percentage, on the other hand, was significantly higher at 49.7 per cent (according to NaturalStatTrick.com) and was actually higher than that of Brent Burns, Radim Simek and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.
At just 21 years old, Ferraro was a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing season and it looks like he'll become a part of San Jose’s long-term defense corps. The Sharks have a clear opening on the left side after trading Brenden Dillon and if he’s able to continue to develop, Ferraro could have a shot at taking on a larger role as early as next season.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
How did you feel about Mario Ferraro's first NHL season?
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