Ferraro Says Sharks Owe Fans a Better Season

Mario Ferraro is ready for winning time.

He knows that San Jose Sharks fans deserve it too.

“We owe them a better season than last year and a better season than the last five since I’ve been here,” the Sharks alternate captain said. “We owe them something better.”

Ferraro is hoping for better for himself. His NHL career started in 2019-20, which coincided with the Sharks’ five-straight season playoff drought.

The rebuilding Sharks may not be ready for prime time yet, but after selecting Macklin Celebrini first-overall in the 2024 Draft and adding a star like Tyler Toffoli in free agency, it feels like San Jose is finally headed in the right direction.

And Ferraro is so here for it.

He spoke about a different excitement surrounding the Sharks now and pushed back against the notion that San Jose needs more size.

Mario Ferraro, on what the San Jose Sharks need more of:

We have to have more of a winning mentality, more of a competitive mentality. I’m sure you guys will hear that a lot from a lot of guys. It’s kind of a big thing for us to be very, very competitive, not just on the ice, off the ice, little games, ping pong, whatever it is.

Ferraro, on a different excitement this year coming into camp:

I think just the overall excitement. I think a lot of guys have an edge.

At the end of the day, we’re all fighting for roles. I think that the young guys are coming in, and they’re making it more competitive for the the older guys. I feel like our older guys are competing, saying you’re not taking my spot, and these younger guys are coming in, trying to take a spot.

Combining the two, it just adds for a very competitive and fast-paced camp.

I think there’s a lot of excitement, obviously, around the obvious players, don’t want to toot their horn. (laughs) But there’s a lot of excitement around these guys, these younger guys that are coming in.

I think we’re just motivated. We feel the energy from the fanbase around San Jose. We owe them a better season than last year and a better season than the last five since I’ve been here. We owe them something better. And we got to start trending in the upward direction.

It’s been going downhill for the last four or five years, so now it’s time to start trending upward.

We have the talent, we have the character guys in this room. We have the pieces to do it, but like I said, we just got to come in as a team, as a family, and figure out how we’re going to do that.

We have our ways. We have our strategies. Warso has his mottos that we’re going after. I don’t want to say them right now, but I’m sure you’ll hear them throughout the year.

They’re going to be around the locker room. We’re going to live and die by them.

Ferraro, on if San Jose Sharks needed to add more size:

I’m a player, I don’t know how to build a team. I don’t know what kind of size guys like a team would need, but I think we need to get bigger in terms of our compete level and the way we battle out there and our desire to win.

I don’t think that size has anything to do with it.

From my perspective, what I believe in anyways, because I’m not an overly big guy and I’m a defenseman…It’s just bigger heart, bigger compete.