Sharks' Ferraro Could Be Packaged For Scoring Depth

Mario Ferraro appears to be the San Jose Sharks' best trade chip ahead of next season and he could very well be traded this offseason. While that seems less likely than closer to the trade deadline to a more desperate team, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period said that the Sharks may package Ferraro for some scoring depth at forward, but it may happen closer to the trade deadline.

The Sharks have very questionable depth up front as their entire projected bottom-6 combined for 65 points last season. This includes newly signed Jeff Skinner, Philipp Kurashev, Barclay Goodrow, Zack Ostapchuk, Ty Dellandrea, and Ryan Reaves, but the team also has depth players like Carl Grundstrom, Colin Graf, Cameron Lund, and a whole bunch of other early-to-mid 20-year-olds who have played some games in the NHL.

That bottom-6 is just not good enough even though the Sharks aren't expected to compete next season. The top-6 doesn't look all that good either if Adam Gaudette and Alex Wennberg are both going to spend time near the top of the lineup. While Ferraro won't get the Sharks multiple top-6 players, he should at least get them one as he is easily a top-4 defenseman that has played top minutes on the Sharks. Ferraro also has a good contract with one year left at $3.25 million AAV and no trade protection.

The reason Ferraro continues to be a trade candidate is because he is a UFA after the season and even though the Sharks have had 15 days to get a new deal done, it doesn't look like something either side will be getting to this offseason. San Jose just traded Henry Thrun, a young LD, but also have Shakir Mukhamadullin who will fill that left side this season. The Sharks went out and used their cap space to sign Dmitry Orlov, John Klingberg, and pick Nick Leddy up off of waivers. Two of them play the left side naturally, but can both play the right side as well. There is only a certain amount of room on the back-end, and if Ferraro can help the forwards get a bit better, the defense looks more stable right now and can afford it.