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Poll: When Will The Sharks Win Their First Game?

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To say the San Jose Sharks have been the worst team in the league through ten games would be an understatement. Expectations for the 2023-24 iteration of the squad were low, but the team is on the verge of making history with a 0-9-1 record through ten contests. Two more losses would put them in second place all-time among winless streaks to start a season, trailing only the 1943-44 New York Rangers, who went 15 games without a win.

The numbers behind it aren’t pretty, either. They’ve scored just ten goals, four less than the 31st-ranked St. Louis Blues offense, who have played two fewer games. Through ten games, the Sharks also have a lowly goals-for percentage of 17% at five-on-five – worse than the worst team in NHL history, the 1974-75 Washington Capitals, who controlled 30% of goals at five-on-five through their first ten contests.

Obviously, some positive regression is bound to come offensively. The team is shooting at just 2.9% collectively at five-on-five, far below the 7.7% league average. Their goaltending had helped matters somewhat, although conceding ten goals to the Canucks last night took a significant bite out of both Mackenzie Blackwood’s and Kaapo Kähkönen’s save percentages. They’re controlling 40.6% of expected goals at five-on-five (per MoneyPuck), still the worst in the NHL but significantly higher than their actual rate of 17%.

All of this is to say the Sharks are absolutely a slam-dunk pick to finish 32nd in the league at season’s end, but the points will likely start coming soon for players like Tomáš Hertl, Luke Kunin, Mario Ferraro, and Fabian Zetterlund, who all rank top four on the team in shots at the moment. There’s no telling when that positive regression will occur, however, and the clock will keep ticking on perhaps the worst start to a season in NHL history.

With all that in mind, when do you think the Sharks will log their first two points of the 2023-24 season? Vote in the poll below:

If you can’t access the embedded poll, click here to vote.

Snapshots: Blackhawks, Ferraro, Cogliano, Biega

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The Blackhawks are a team that many are keeping an eye on when it comes to the trade front with long-time veterans Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews among those that could potentially be on the move between now and the March 3rd trade deadline, assuming that they’re willing to waive their trade protection.  However, GM Kyle Davidson told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan that he has yet to have any specific trade talks on any of his players just yet.  With the trade market largely being stalled out right now due to a lack of cap flexibility, there’s no immediate rush to start to get a sense of what the market might be for some of their veterans.  That should change at some point in the new year, especially when Kane and Toews decide whether they’d like to move on or if they want to remain with Chicago.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Sharks defenseman Mario Ferraro confirmed to Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link) that he’ll return to the lineup tonight against Calgary after missing close to four weeks with a foot injury. The 24-year-old is second on the team in ice time per game at a little under 23 minutes a night while he has chipped in with five points and 47 blocked shots in 23 games.  San Jose had an open roster spot to activate him off injured reserve so no corresponding roster move needed to be made.
  • Avalanche winger Andrew Cogliano will miss at least the next two games after suffering an upper-body injury in last night’s game against the Islanders, relays Kyle Frederickson of The Denver Gazette (Twitter link). The 35-year-old tumbled into the boards in the third period on Monday and did not return.  He has four goals and three assists in 30 games so far this season while being an important part of a bottom-six group that has gone through plenty of turnover thus far.  Now, he’ll be out until after the holiday break and will be re-evaluated at that time.
  • Veteran defenseman Alex Biega announced his retirement on his Instagram page. The 34-year-old had a 12-year professional career, seeing NHL action in eight of those seasons.  Biega suited up in 243 NHL contests between Vancouver, Detroit, and Toronto, picking up 42 points along with 624 hits.  He also got into 397 career AHL games, collecting 129 points.

Sharks Notes: Meier, Injuries, Riedell

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One of the more interesting restricted free agents this summer will be Timo Meier.  While he has an AAV of $6MM, his contract isn’t subject to the new qualifying rules that came into effect in the CBA (which is the lowest of 120% of the AAV or the same salary from the final year).  That means that he will be owed a $10MM qualifying offer this summer, one that would also give Meier salary arbitration and a path to accept a one-year deal that walks him to unrestricted free agency.  Accordingly, many expect the Sharks to look into what an early extension might cost them.  However, his agent Claude Lemieux told Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription link) that they’re open-minded to discussing such a deal and are waiting for an offer to come.

The 26-year-old had a career year last season with 35 goals and 41 assists in 77 games and is producing at a slightly lesser pace this year with 12 tallies and 11 helpers in 26 contests.  That type of production isn’t quite worth $10MM in this market so GM Mike Grier will need to decide over the next couple of months if Meier is someone that they want to try to keep long-term and work on a deal now or if they should be looking into moving him before the March 3rd trade deadline.

More from San Jose:

  • While they were hoping to have goaltender James Reimer back this weekend, that won’t be the case as Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now relays that Reimer, center Nico Sturm, and defenseman Mario Ferraro have all been ruled out of the next two games. Sturm was also believed to be nearing a return from his suspected concussion but the Sharks will hold him out for a couple more days at least.  Ferraro skated yesterday for the first time as he begins to work his way back from a foot injury.
  • The Sharks have made a move at the AHL level as their farm team announced the signing of defenseman Will Riedell. The 26-year-old wrapped his college career last season with Ohio State where he had 10 points in 33 games before joining Philadelphia’s farm team for the stretch run.  So far this season, Riedell has four assists in 15 games with ECHL Savannah.

San Jose Sharks Place Mario Ferraro On Injured Reserve

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The San Jose Sharks have placed defenseman Mario Ferraro on injured reserve, according to the team’s media relations department. The 24-year-old defenseman is poised to miss at least a week-long stretch of time.

Ferraro registered a shot on goal, four blocks, and a -1 rating in 21:05 of ice time in last night’s loss to the Los Angeles Kings. The team has not commented on the nature of Ferraro’s injury, when he sustained it, or any potential timeline.

San Jose signed Ferraro to a four-year extension last summer, a reward for the heavy minutes he’s logged in the past two seasons. His play has dipped this year, though, with his role less certain and defensive weaknesses more exposed. His -14 rating is the worst on the team.

Nick Cicek will draw into the Sharks lineup for Ferraro, at least in the short term. The 22-year-old undrafted defenseman was recently called up and has two assists in his first five NHL games.

And while Ferraro hasn’t been his best to start the year, his minutes have kept up, playing nearly 23 minutes per game. How the Sharks replace those minutes with a depleted defense core is a fair question to ask. It’s not a realistic expectation to increase the workload of Erik Karlsson, who’s already averaging over 25 minutes per game. They’ll need veteran players like Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Matt Benning to step up unless Cicek is able to surprise.

San Jose Sharks Re-Sign Mario Ferraro

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4:35 pm: CapFriendly reports that Ferraro is paid $3.25MM evenly across his contract, except 2022-23 carries a $2.25MM base salary and $1MM signing bonus.

11:35 am: San Jose Sharks general manager Mike Grier announced today that the team has re-signed defenseman Mario Ferraro to a four-year contract. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports the contract carries a $3.25MM cap hit, which will take him directly to unrestricted free agency in 2027.

Grier gave the following statement with regard to Ferraro’s signing:

Mario has shown that he is a dynamic and reliable defenseman for our club, skating top-level minutes against the best competition every night and delivering solid results. His energy and work ethic are the reason why he has achieved so much in his early part of his career, and we look forward to watching him continue to grow and elevate his role on the team.

Ferraro had a rough season in 2021-22 by most metrics, but the 23-year-old defenseman was deployed against the other team’s top competition on a nightly basis. Ferraro’s offensive output dipped to 14 points in 63 games compared to 17 points in 56 games in 2020-21, and he posted a career-low Corsi for percentage at even strength of 44.8%.

There’s no question that Ferraro still carries legitimate, long-term top-four potential in the Sharks organization, and a four-year term is evidence that the team believes the same. Under a new head coach in David Quinn, look for Ferraro’s two-way game to get back on track to where it was in 2020-21.

For a defenseman who was only drafted five years ago, though, he’s already got a lot of ground covered in terms of NHL games. He ranks third in games played among defensemen from the 2017 draft class, with his 180 games slotting in behind Henri Jokiharju’s 213 and Miro Heiskanen’s 275.

San Jose Sharks Activate Mario Ferraro Off Injured Reserve

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The San Jose Sharks activated 23-year-old top-pairing defenseman Mario Ferraro off injured reserve today, as the team announced on Twitter.

Prior to the injury, Ferraro was in the midst of a solid follow-up to his pseudo-breakout campaign in 2020-21. San Jose’s 49th-overall selection in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, Ferraro had two goals, nine assists, 11 points, a -7 rating, and an average time on ice of 23:19.

Ferraro sustained a leg injury on February 26th that was expected to keep him out of the lineup for six weeks, meaning his return to the lineup comes ahead of schedule. Ferraro played just 13 shifts in that night’s game against Boston before suffering the injury, landing on the injured reserve list two days later.

The Sharks went 6-7-2 with Ferraro out of the lineup, but their goals against per games played average was 3.27 during that timeframe, up from the team’s season-long mark thus far of 3.15. Ferraro has continuously been thrown to the wolves the past two years, commonly playing alongside Brent Burns, but the young defenseman has held his own despite seeing some of the toughest minutes in the league.

Ferraro could return tonight when the Sharks host the Dallas Stars.

Sharks’ Mario Ferraro Out Six To Eight Weeks

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The San Jose Sharks have been dealt a major blow to their already dwindling playoff hopes. Promising young defenseman Mario Ferraro underwent surgery on Sunday to repair a fractured left fibula, the team announced. The timeline for recovery is six-to-eight weeks; with less than nine weeks remaining in the season and the Sharks outside the postseason picture, Ferraro will have limited if any impact over the remainder of the year.

The injury occurred on Saturday night as the Sharks faced off with the Boston Bruins. During a battle for the puck in his own end, Ferraro was the recipient of a somewhat questionable check from opposing forward Taylor Hall. Hall shoved Ferraro from behind and he slid into the end wall, with the impact causing immediate and apparent pain. Ferraro was helped off the ice – clearly injured – but a broken leg is one of the worst case scenarios for the team.

Ferraro, 23, has impressed since day one of his young NHL career, but was on pace for his best season to date. The UMass standout has been seeing increased ice time and was on pace for a career high in goals, points, hits, and takeaways, having already set a career mark in blocked shots. A budding top-pair defenseman, if not already there, Ferraro has been a critical part of San Jose’s success this season.

Even with Ferraro’s contributions thus far, the Sharks are just a .500 team. While they have remained at or above that mark all season, doing so moving forward will be a difficult task. Ferraro will join Erik Karlsson, Nikolai Knyzhov, and Jaycob Megna on the injured reserve while Nicolas Meloche also remains sidelined, leaving San Jose with a severely depleted blue line. Nine points behind the Dallas Stars for the final playoff spot in the West and with four other teams between them in the wild card race, the Sharks’ postseason hopes now look like a long shot, especially if Ferraro misses the maximum eight weeks.

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