BOSTON — Six months ago, Mario Ferraro stood inside the UMass locker room living in the immediate pain of losing the national championship game.
At that moment, everyone in Buffalo, New York, knew that Cale Makar would soon depart the Minutemen for the NHL, but Ferraro’s future was up in the air. He was drafted in the second round by the San Jose Sharks in 2017 and excelled in two years at UMass, but it wasn’t clear whether he was ready to take the next step in his career. In Ferraro’s postseason meetings with Greg Carvel, the UMass coach said he thought he was being honest with his young defenseman about his prospects of playing in the NHL this season.
“We’re really happy for him and I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t think he was ready,” Carvel said. “I was very honest with him and he proved me wrong all day long. We knew he’d get there eventually, he’s the kind of kid that any coach is going to love. … I thought he still had some development to go – they all do – but maybe I was hoping he’d stay, but I thought I was being honest when I said he could use one more year, but I was wrong.”
Ferraro signed his three-year contract with the Sharks on April 29 – two weeks after the title game loss – and won a spot in the Sharks’ lineup on opening night earlier this month. He hasn’t jumped off the page and made the impact Makar did with the Colorado Avalanche in the playoffs, but Ferraro has at the very least held his own against NHL competition through 12 games. He holds a plus-minus rating of -4, which isn’t ideal but at least better than many of the more experienced defensemen in the lineup for the Sharks.
He called his decision to sign a personal one and felt it was in his best interest to sign with San Jose and begin the next stage of his career – regardless if he ended up with the Sharks or their AHL affiliate, San Jose Barracuda.
“I think I improved a lot in the last month or two months (of last season), and San Jose contacted me and I felt this was the best route of my development,” Ferraro said Tuesday after San Jose’s morning skate at TD Garden. “Regardless of whether I was going to San Jose to play for the Sharks or start with the Barracuda, it didn’t matter, this was a decision I made in order to develop as a player. That was a mindset and I’m super fortunate to be starting with the Sharks, but I need to continue to bring it every single night.”
The adjustment to professional hockey has been more of a mental one for Ferraro, who showcased the requisite speed and physicality last season for the Minutemen. He said he felt prepared for the physical elements of the transition, but that he needed to be more aware on the ice and make sure he limits the mental mistakes in the defensive zone.
“Obviously everything is a little bit faster, guys are bigger, guys are stronger,” Ferraro said. “But the biggest thing is just knowing who’s on the ice. There’s a very small margin for error here and guys are very good and can finish their chances pretty well. As a defenseman, you have to make sure you’re really solid back there and you’re as precise as possible.”
One area Ferraro is trying to address is the line he must straddle with his energy and aggression in games. He said he’s working on staying more composed on both ends of the rink and making sure his positioning is correct because he can no longer use his speed to correct those miscues anymore. Defensively, that means forcing forwards to make passes earlier than they would prefer, and offensively, he said he wants to be more poised with the puck on his stick and help stimulate some offense for the Sharks.
Those are goals that continue to push Ferraro, but he has already won over his coaches with how well he has handled the responsibility of being an NHL defensemen. Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said he has been impressed with how Ferraro has continued to rise to the challenge and accepted their coaching throughout the season.
“We’re giving him way more than I expected to give him and he’s handled it and he hasn’t faded,” DeBoer said. “He hasn’t faded in the moment, he hasn’t been intimidated by the situations, he’s been great. He brings an intensity every night to his game that we need a little more of from some guys.”
For the time being, Ferraro’s place on the Sharks seems safe, but he isn’t willing to get comfortable just yet. He said his motto has been to push himself every day to improve and continue to prove his worth to a team that is a perennial contender in the Western Conference. Part of that is making sure he soaks up every bit of advice and coaching from the veterans around him.
“They’re always trying to teach me things, show me clips on things where I can improve on,” Ferraro said. “I’d like to think that I’m playing well, but I’m never satisfied and I don’t think the coaches will ever be complacent with where I’m at. They always want me to improve and at the end of the day, that’s why I did sign. They have great coaches here and great people around me that are trying to push me to get better. I take their advice and their coaching as much as possible to try and improve.”