Ferraro Talks Staying with Sharks, First-Ever NHL Fight

Mario Ferraro may play for the San Jose Sharks for a long time, but yesterday’s fight with Jacob Doty won’t necessarily be the first of many.

That bout — Ferraro came to the defense of 18-year-old William Eklund, who had been knocked down by the towering Doty — was actually Ferraro’s first-ever NHL fight. Since the game wasn’t on TV, we only have the lead-up to the brouhaha:

Doty knocks down Eklund, last second you see Ferraro charging Doty, Ferraro and Doty five for fighting pic.twitter.com/CB3jIGHDmP

— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) September 29, 2021

“I just kind of went in there, blacked out a little bit,” Ferraro laughed. “A fight’s a fight, it was more to get in there and back up the boys.”

For what it’s worth, Ferraro didn’t look any worse for the wear today after this tangle with Doty.

That’s a little more impressive because of the tale of the tape: The 5-foot-11 Ferraro is listed at 185 pounds, the 6-foot-2 Doty, 220.

Not that the official record can be trusted. Third-year Ferraro told us he’s up to 200, 205 nowadays.

Ferraro, clearly, is still growing — and he hopes to continue to do so with the San Jose Sharks, both on and off the ice.

The 23-year-old defenseman will be an RFA at the end of this season — and there’s no doubt that he noticed his UMass defensive partner Cale Makar breaking the bank with the Colorado Avalanche this off-season. Makar, who had no arbitration rights like Ferraro this off-season, inked a six-year, $54 million dollar contract in July.

Obviously, Norris candidate Makar is on a different compensation tier than Ferraro — but the San Jose Sharks’ third-most used defender last year is in line for a hefty pay raise over his current entry-level contract. And there’s every reason to believe that Doug Wilson will want Ferraro, seen as future captain material by the organization, to be part of the Sharks for a long, long time.

The feeling appears to be mutual.

“The Sharks are the team that trusted me and drafted me,” Ferraro noted, of the franchise that “reached” on him in the second round of the 2017 NHL Draft. “I’m very loyal to this to this organization. I don’t see there ever being any better organization that I’d like to be a part of.

“I’d love to be a Shark forever.”